Pleura (insects)

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In insects , the pleura or pleure or pleurite ( ancient Greek πλευρά pleurá , German 'body side' ) denotes paired lateral (lateral) sclerites , which are sclerotized chitin plates . The two pleurae (or pleurae) connect the dorsal (back) tergites (the notum ) with the ventral (abdominal) sterna . In the case of the body segments of the thorax, they also include the leg joints.

In a cryptopleuria ( ancient Greek κρυπτός kryptós , German 'hidden, secret' ) the pleurae are largely reduced and z. B. displaced in the prothorax by the pulled down sides of the pronotum . The latter is found in beetles (Coleoptera) and grasshoppers (Saltatoria).

Individual evidence

  1. Duden: Pleura , accessed May 19, 2014
  2. ^ Sclerite . In: Herder Lexicon of Biology, Seventh Volume praealpin bis Spindelstrauch, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg / Berlin / Oxford 1994, ISBN 3-86025-156-2 , p. 440.