stapes bone

The stapes or stirrup is the stirrup-shaped small bone or ossicle in the middle ear which is attached to the incus laterally and to the fenestra ovalis, the 'oval window' medially. The oval window is adjacent to the vestibule of the inner ear. The stapes is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body. The stapes transmits the sound vibrations from the incus to the membrane of the inner ear inside the fenestra ovalis. The stapes is also stabilized by the stapedius muscle, which is innervated by the facial nerve. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the bone homologous to the stapes is usually called the columella; however, in reptiles, either term may be used[WP,unvetted]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the stapes bone is

The stapes or stirrup is the stirrup-shaped small bone or ossicle in the middle ear which is attached to the incus laterally and to the fenestra ovalis, the 'oval window' medially. The oval window is adjacent to the vestibule of the inner ear. The stapes is the smallest and lightest bone in the human body. The stapes transmits the sound vibrations from the incus to the membrane of the inner ear inside the fenestra ovalis. The stapes is also stabilized by the stapedius muscle, which is innervated by the facial nerve. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the bone homologous to the stapes is usually called the columella; however, in reptiles, either term may be used[WP,unvetted]. The atlas records it as a bone at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the stapes bone is

It sits in the head, within the skeletal and sensory systems. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What the stapes bone connects to

The atlas records 13 typed relationships for it, across 8 kinds of connection. part of middle ear and splanchnocranium.

Supply and innervation

This dataset asserts no arterial supply, venous drainage or innervation for the stapes bone. Only a minority of structures carry those edges here, so an empty answer means nothing has been recorded — not that there is nothing to record.

Also called

Also recorded as stirrup, columella, columella auris, columellare, interstapediale and mediostapediale, and 7 more. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0001687, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• Part of: middle ear and splanchnocranium.
• A kind of: anatomical structure, auditory ossicle bone, endochondral bone and skeletal element.
• Attaches to: annular ligament of stapes and stapedius muscle.
• composed of: bone tissue.
• Develops from: Reichert's cartilage.
• inserts into: stapedius muscle.
• contributes to morphology of: stapes base.
• contains: stapes base.

Questions

Where is the stapes bone?

It sits in the head, within the skeletal and sensory systems. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What does the stapes bone connect to?

Part of: middle ear and splanchnocranium.

Is the stapes bone the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.