prosoma

[ proh-soh-muh ]

noun

, Zoology.

, plural pro·so·mas, pro·so·ma·ta [proh-, soh, -m, uh, -t, uh].

1. an anterior body region, especially the arthropod cephalothorax.

prosoma

/ prəʊˈsəʊmə /

noun

1. zoology the head and thorax of an arachnid

Other Words From

• pro·somal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of prosoma¹

From New Latin, dating back to 1870–75; pro- ², -soma

Example Sentences

Scientists can effectively operate the spider like an arcade claw machine Armed with this knowledge, the team from Rice University discovered they could artificially operate this hydraulic system simply by sticking a needle into a dead spider’s prosoma, pushing air in and out to open and close the spider’s legs like an arcade claw machine.

From The Verge

The five pairs of appendages of the post-oral somites of the head or prosoma thus constituted all primitively carry gnathobasic projections on their coxal joints, which act as hemignaths: in the more specialized forms the mandibular gnathobases cease to develop.

From Project Gutenberg

IXstg to XIIstg, the four pulmonary somites. met, The pentagonal metasternite of the prosoma behind all the coxae. x, The sternum of the pectiniferous somite. y, The broad first somite of the metasoma.

From Project Gutenberg

The present writer is of opinion that it will be found most convenient to treat this evanescent somite as something special, and not to attempt to reckon it to either the prosoma or the mesosoma.

From Project Gutenberg

The wide divarication of the lateral cords in the prosoma and their connexion by transverse commissures, together with the “attraction” of ganglia to the prosomatic ganglion group which properly belong to hinder segments, are very nearly identical in the two animals.

From Project Gutenberg