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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Glossary » L » leg

leg

Classification · Explanation of Names · Identification · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Insect Leg Legs of hymenoptera Anatomy of a Spider Spider Anatomy for glossary
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
No Taxon (Glossary)
No Taxon (L)
No Taxon leg
Explanation of Names
English word is from Middle English legge, meaning leg (1), that apparently from Old Norse (Jardine calls this Icelandic) leggr, a leg, a hollow bone.
Identification
leg - one of the six chief organs of locomotion of an insect, arising from the segments of the thorax, and which are made up of four main portions, the coxa, femur, tibia, and tarsus. (The second segment, the trochanter, is very short.) Sometimes the tarsus has an elongated first section, the metatarsus.

Some insect larvae, especially caterpillars, have fleshy prolegs, often in addition to six true legs. Photos/diagrams showing prolegs and true legs in a caterpillar:
Remarks
According to Jardine, Thomas Say called the entire insect leg the tibia, but this usage is not current today.
See Also
leg
coxa
trochanter
femur
tibia
tarsus / metatarsus
tibiotarsus
proleg
Print References
Gordh, A Dictionary of Entomology, p. 517 (1)
Internet References
Jardine's Dictionary of Entomology
Wikipedia: Arthropod leg
Works Cited
1.A Dictionary of Entomology
George Gordh, David H. Headrick. 2003. CABI Publishing.
Contributed by Cotinis on 15 May, 2007 - 1:41pm
Additional contributions by ceiseman
Last updated 6 March, 2015 - 8:20pm

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