exopodite

[ ek-sop-uh-dahyt ]

noun

, Zoology.

1. the outer or lateral branch of a two-branched crustacean leg or appendage. Compare endopodite, protopodite.

Other Words From

• ex·op·o·dit·ic [ek-sop-, uh, -, dit, -ik], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of exopodite¹

First recorded in 1865–70; exo- + -pod + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

The standard trilobite limb is segmented into three distinct portions — a walking leg, or endopodite, and a gill structure, the exopodite, are connected to the body by a spiny food-processing section, the protopodite.

From New York Times

The jaws have the gnathobasic endites developed at the expense of the rest of the limb, the endopodite and exopodite persisting only as sensory “palps” or disappearing altogether.

From Project Gutenberg

General Morphology of Appendages.—Amid the great variety of forms assumed by the appendages of the Crustacea, it is possible to trace, more or less plainly, the modifications of a fundamental type consisting of a peduncle, the protopodite, bearing two branches, the endopodite and exopodite.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus, in the thoracic limbs of the Malacostraca, the endopodite generally forms a walking-leg while the exopodite becomes a swimming-branch or may disappear altogether.

From Project Gutenberg

The two distal endites are regarded as corresponding to the endopodite and exopodite of the higher Crustacea, the axis or corm of the Phyllopod limb representing the protopodite.

From Project Gutenberg