Empodium

Many insects possess a lobe or spine between the two claws at the end of the tarsus (the final segment in the leg of the insect). This lobe or spine is called an empodium.

An illustration of the tarsus of Asilus crabroniformis with the empodium(3) highlighted.
Illustration by Francis Walker (1851).

Legend

1. Pulvilli
2. Claw
3. Empodium

Other names for (or types of) Empodium include:

• Spurious claw

Related terms

• Claw
• Coxa
• Femur
• Pulvilli
• Tarsomere
• Tarsus
• Tibia
• Trochanter

Related groups of terms

• Invertebrate body structure

Related pages on this web site

• Insect body structure

See other words beginning with E