Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Clickable Guide

Interactive image map to choose major taxa Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27


seta, setae, setaceous, setose, etc.

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
No Taxon (Glossary)
No Taxon (S)
No Taxon seta, setae, setaceous, setose, etc.

Pronunciation

SEE-tuh, SEE-tee

Explanation of Names

From Latin seta, plural setae, bristle.

Identification

seta noun, plural setae - stiff hair-like processes on the integument of an arthropod or other organism.

Related terms:
setiferous, setiform, setigerous, setose - set with, or bearing setae.
setiform adjective - bristle-shaped.
setigerae adjective - (antennae) when the basal joints are large, and the remainder form into a kind of bristle. (L. seta, and gero, to bear.)
setulose adjective - with truncated (very short) setae. (Diminutive of Latin seta.)
setaceous adjective - Gradually tapering to the tip, like a bristle

Diagram of antenna forms:


Examples of setaceous antennae:


Setae on body wall projections of arthropod larvae:

Internet References

NCSU page on insect setae as mechanoreceptors.
MicrolabNW Photomicrograph Gallery page...with discussion of chemical distinction between insect setae and mammalian hair.