podomere, n. Zool.
(ˈpɒdəʊmɪə(r))
[f. podo- + -mere.]
Each of the sections of a segmented leg or other appendage of an animal, esp. an arthropod.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1935 R. E. Snodgrass Princ. Insect Morphol. v. 85 A clearly defined limb segment, definitely correlated with muscle attachments, is termed a podomere, or podite. 1979 Nature 29 Mar. 490/3 The nicest device she [sc. Dr. Sidnie Manton] discovered was surely the rock of the arthropod coxae, lining-up the dorsal hinge joints to translate the depression of proximal podomeres into effective extension of the legs. 1987 Jrnl. Paleontol. LXI. 225/1 An explanation for the capability for the high limb-swing angles in Cruziana reticulata may lie in the evolution in some trilobite lineages of specialized coxa-body and inter-podomere articulations. |