Prothorax

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Prothorax of a beetle (Coleoptera)

The prothorax (derived from the Latin pro for “before” and the Greek thorax for “breastplate”) is the foremost segment of the insect's chest area ( thorax ) . It is followed by the meso- and metathorax . Each of the insects' thorax segments has a pair of legs . In the prothorax, these are the front legs. In all ( recent ) insects living today, the prothorax does not have wings , in contrast to the other two segments.

In some animals, the front legs are specially designed. A catch leg is a leg that has been transformed for the purpose of catching prey in many groups of predatory insects on the prothorax.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c prothorax. In: Lexicon of Biology. Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg 1999; accessed on August 17, 2015.
  2. ↑ Fang legs. In: Herder-Lexikon der Biologie. CD-ROM, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 3-8274-0354-5 .