Science / Spiders Glossary

Sternum: The heart-shaped or oval exoskeletal shield covering the under surface of the cephalothorax.

Stridulating Organ: A file-and-scraper for sound production: may be variously located on chelicerae, palps, legs, abdomen and carapace.

Subadult: Almost adult: the last instar before maturity.

Synonym: Each of two or more scientific names of the same rank used to denote the same taxon. The senior synonym is the name first established.

Tarsus: The foot: the most distal segment of the legs, which bears the claws at its tip.

Taxon: Any taxonomic unit (eg. family, genus, species).

Taxonomy: The theory and practice of classifying organisms, part of systematics, the study of the kinds and diversity of organisms.

Tergites: Dorsal sclerites on the body: the hard plates on the abdomen of the atypical tarantulas that indicate the segmentation.

Thon Rings: rings visible in the power spectrum of micrographs obtained by bright-field electron microscopy. These rings can be explained as the effect of the contrast transfer function, which modulates . . . View Full Definition

Thorax: The second region of the body of insects that bears the legs: in spiders, fused with the head to form the cephalothorax.

Three-Dimensional Projection Matching: a method of refinement in reconstructing single particles from their projections [Penczek et al., 1994]. A preliminary 3D map, obtained by random-conical reconstruction or angular reconstitu . . . View Full Definition

Tibia: (pl. Tibiae adj. tibial) The fifth segment of the leg or palp counting from the body.

Tracheae: The air tubes in insects: in spiders, tubular respiratory organs of different origin: by many thought to be modified book lungs.

Trichobothrium: (pl. trichobothria) A long, fine hair rising almost vertically from a socket on the leg. Trichobothria detect air vibrations and currents.

Trochanter: The second segment of the leg or palp, counting from the body.

Ventral: Pertaining to the underside.

Wiener Filtration: application of the Wiener filter, designed to restore a signal in the presence of noise in an optimal way, in the least-square sense.

Zygote: The fertilized egg.

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