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Related Concept Videos

Anatomy of the Ear01:16

Anatomy of the Ear

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Auditory sensation, commonly called hearing, involves the transformation of sonic waves into neural impulses facilitated by the structures of the auditory organ. The prominent, flesh-like structure on the side of the head, called the auricle, directs sound waves towards the auditory canal. The auricle is often mislabeled as the pinna, a term more aligned with mobile structures like a feline's external ear. The auditory canal penetrates the cranium via the external auditory meatus of the...
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Convergent Evolution01:54

Convergent Evolution

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Evolution shapes the features of organisms over time, ensuring that they are suited for the environments in which they live. Sometimes, selection pressure leads to the rise of similar but unrelated adaptations in organisms with no recent common ancestors, a process known as convergent evolution.
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The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

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The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.
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The Auditory Ossicles01:11

The Auditory Ossicles

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The auditory ossicles of the middle ear transmit sounds from the air as vibrations to the fluid-filled cochlea. The auditory ossicles consist of two malleus (hammer) bones, two incus (anvil) bones, and two stapes (stirrups), one on each side. These bones develop during the fetal stage and are the ones to ossify first. They are fully mature at birth and do not grow afterward.
The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...
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Auditory Pathway01:15

Auditory Pathway

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Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking...
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Hair Cells01:22

Hair Cells

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Hair cells are the sensory receptors of the auditory system—they transduce mechanical sound waves into electrical energy that the nervous system can understand. Hair cells are located in the organ of Corti within the cochlea of the inner ear, between the basilar and tectorial membranes. The actual sensory receptors are called inner hair cells. The outer hair cells serve other functions, such as sound amplification in the cochlea, and are not discussed in detail here.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 15, 2026

Dissection of the Auditory Bulla in Postnatal Mice: Isolation of the Middle Ear Bones and Histological Analysis
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Resolving the evolution of the mammalian middle ear using Bayesian inference.

Héctor E Ramírez-Chaves1, Vera Weisbecker1, Stephen Wroe2

  • 1University of Queensland, School of Biological Sciences, Goddard Building 8 St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia.

Frontiers in Zoology
|August 27, 2016
PubMed
Summary

Mammalian middle ear bones evolved from jaw joints in a two-step process, detaching twice independently. This evolutionary transformation, crucial for hearing, occurred in therian and monotreme ancestors, with Meckel

Keywords:
AustralosphenidaMeckel’s grooveMiddle ear detachmentPostdentary troughTheria

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Paleontology
  • Mammalian evolution

Background:

  • Mammalian middle ear ossicles evolved from jaw joint structures.
  • This transformation involved detachment from the postdentary trough and Meckel's cartilage.
  • Previous analyses suggested multiple independent losses or reversals of the postdentary trough.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To perform the first model-based, probabilistic analysis of mammalian middle ear evolution.
  • To investigate the evolutionary history of the definitive mammalian middle ear.
  • To assess potential fossil preservation artifacts using virtual 3D erosion simulations.

Main Methods:

  • Model-based, probabilistic analysis of evolutionary transformations.
  • Virtual 3D erosion simulations.
  • Comparative analysis of developmental and fossil data.

Main Results:

  • The middle ear bones detached from the postdentary trough only twice in mammalian history, in therian and monotreme ancestors.
  • Meckel's cartilage disappeared independently in numerous lineages from the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous.
  • The final separation of ear bones from the jaw recapitulates in extant mammal development, unlike the earlier postdentary trough loss.

Conclusions:

  • A two-step, developmentally congruent scenario explains mammalian middle ear evolution.
  • The uncoupling of auditory and feeding systems facilitated specialization in mammalian lineages.
  • Loss of the postdentary trough by ~163 Ma was a significant adaptive event in mammalian evolution.