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The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of ... of movements that are possible in vertebrate animals, ... functions are articular and have to do with how the ...
Functions may variously include sensing touch, air motion, heat, vibration (sound), and especially smell or taste. [1] [2] Antennae are sometimes modified for other purposes, such as mating, brooding, swimming, and even anchoring the arthropod to a substrate. [2] Larval arthropods have antennae that differ from those of the adult.
All arthropod appendages are variations of the same basic structure (homologous), and which structure is produced is controlled by "homeobox" genes. Changes to these genes have allowed scientists to produce animals (chiefly Drosophila melanogaster) with modified appendages, such as legs instead of antennae. [2]
The strong, segmented limbs of arthropods eliminate the need for one of the coelom's main ancestral functions, as a hydrostatic skeleton, which muscles compress in order to change the animal's shape and thus enable it to move. Hence the coelom of the arthropod is reduced to small areas around the reproductive and excretory systems.
Cerci (sg.: cercus) are paired appendages usually on the rear-most segments of many arthropods, including insects and symphylans. Many forms of cerci serve as sensory organs, but some serve as pinching weapons or as organs of copulation. [1] In many insects, they simply may be functionless vestigial structures.
The mouthparts of arthropods have evolved into a number of forms, each adapted to a different style or mode of feeding. Most mouthparts represent modified, paired appendages, which in ancestral forms would have appeared more like legs than mouthparts.
Arthropods (/ ˈ ɑːr θ r ə p ɒ d / ARTH-rə-pod) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin , often mineralised with calcium carbonate , a body with differentiated ( metameric ) segments , and paired jointed appendages .
The development of distinct tagmata is believed to be a feature of the evolution of segmented animals, especially arthropods. In the ancestral arthropod, the body was made up of repeated segments, each with similar internal organs and appendages. One evolutionary trend is the grouping together of some segments into larger units, the tagmata.