The carapace or peltidium is a dorsal shield formed by the fusion of all prosomatic tergites into a single piece.
This term is a replacement for cephalothorax, which was often incorrect used in this sense. Cephalothorax or prosoma is the anterior tagma of body, while carapace is only the tergal portion of the cephalothorax.
History[]
For Opiliones, the earliest use of the more precise term carapace seems to be Roewer (1923 [1]): "ich bezeichne bei den Opilioniden die harte Rückendecke des Vorderkörpers als "Carapax"."
Anatomy[]
IN arachnids the peltidium may be entire or divided into 3 sections: propeltidium, a carapace-like shield that covers the proterosoma, which comprises the fused acron (protocerebral region) and first four segments; and two free segments, mesopeltidium and metapeltidium.
References[]
- ↑ Roewer, C.F. (1923) Die Weberknechte der Erde. Systematische Bearbeitung der bisher bekannten Opiliones. Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1116 pp.