Furca (biology)

In Triops longicaudatus the particularly long tail threads of the Furca were the eponymous feature

The furca ( Lat. Two-pronged fork , Pl . : Furcae) is a forked telson in lower crustaceans , i.e. the last body segment of the abdomen (pleon). The furca, also known as the tail fork, does not belong to the extremities and represents an original feature in terms of the evolution of the crabs in the history of the phylogenetic tree .

Examples of crabs with a typical furca are the species of the genera Triops and Lepidurus , " living fossils " from the class of the gill-pods (Branchiopoda).

The - anatomically analogous - jumping fork of the springtails is also called furca (sometimes also: furcula).

Furca is also called an inwardly turned chitinous process of the meso- and metathoracic sternum in insects . This serves as a base for leg and flight muscles.

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• Lexicon of Biology . Volume 3. Herder, Freiburg 1984. ISBN 3-451-19643-3