Opisthosoma

The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma (cephalothorax).[1] It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects to an abdomen (and is often referred to as such), the opisthosoma is differentiated by its inclusion of the respiratory organs (book lungs or book gills) and the heart.

Arachnid anatomy:
(1) four pairs of legs
(2) prosoma (cephalothorax)
(3) opisthosoma (abdomen)

Segments

The number of segments and appendages on the opisthosoma vary. Scorpions have 13, but the first is only seen during its embryological development. Other arachnids have fewer; harvestmen, for instance, have only ten.[2] In general, appendages are absent or reduced, although in horseshoe crabs they persist as large plate-like limbs, called opercula or branchiophores, bearing the book gills, and that function in locomotion and gas exchange. In most chelicerates the opisthosomal limbs are greatly reduced and persist only as specialized structures, such as the silk-producing spinnerets of spiders or the pectines of scorpions. In animals like whip scorpions and whip spiders the first two 'sternites' bearing the book lungs may actually be highly modified opisthosomal limbs.

gollark: Magic nanoparticle sensors could gather interesting data about your body's functioning, though, which my phone cannot currently.
gollark: I probably want one of the mRNA ones, but the UK bought up a lot of the Oxford adenovirus one which seems less good.
gollark: Over time, probably.
gollark: I mean, eventually, yes, give or take a somewhat broken economy, more remote work, sort of thing.
gollark: There were surveys done on it here but I forgot what the actual results were.

References
  1. Peter Ax. "Chelicerata". Multicellular Animals. Springer. pp. 83–85. ISBN 978-3-540-67406-1.
  2. Jeffrey W. Shultz; Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha (2007). "Morphology and functional anatomy". In Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha; Glauco Machado; Gonzalo Giribet (eds.). Harvestmen: the Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press. pp. 14–61. ISBN 978-0-674-02343-7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.