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Pedipalps


Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates– a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") and anterior to the first pair of walking legs.

Pedipalps are composed of six segments or articles: the coxae, a single trochanter, the femur, a short patella, the tibia, and the tarsus. In spiders the coxae frequently have extensions called maxillae or gnathobases, which function as mouth parts with or without some contribution from the coxae of the anterior legs. The limbs themselves may be simple tactile organs outwardly resembling the legs, as in spiders, or chelate weapons (pincers) of great size, as in the scorpions. Comparative studies of pedipalpal morphology may suggest that leg-like pedipalps are primitive in arachnids. At present, the only reasonable alternative to this view is to assume that Xiphosurans reflect the morphology of the primitive arachnid pedipalp and to conclude that this appendage is primitively chelate. Chelate or sub chelate pedipalps are found in several arachnid groups, i.e. Ricinulei, Thelyphonida, Scorpions and pseudoscorpions, but the chelae in most of these groups may not be homologous with those found in Xiphosura. The pedipalps are distinctly raptorial (modified for seizing prey) in the Amblypygi, Thelyphonida, Schizomida and some Opiliones belonging to the laniatorid group.


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