Metamerism (biology)
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Heteronomous metamerism in an insect ( Empis tesselata ): While the limbs on the head are designed as mouthparts, the torso supports treadmills.
The metamerism is the segmentation of the animal's body in successive sections. Originally, all segments are designed in the same way ( homonomous metamerism or homonomous segmentation) as it appears in the earthworm . From the outside it looks homonomously segmented, but has tagmata like the clitellum and is therefore only apparently homonomously segmented. In the further course of evolution , many animals, such as insects , developed different segmentation (heteronomous metamerism). In vertebrates , the metamerism is preserved in the form of the articulated spine . The functional specialization of segments leads to heteronomous segmentation and the formation of tagmata (tagmatization).