gonopod

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

gono- +‎ -pod

Noun[edit]

gonopod (plural gonopods)

  1. (zoology) A pleopod that is specialized for fertilisation in the males of some decapods.
  2. (entomology) A clasping structure, possibly also evolved from legs, at the tip of the abdomen of some male insects.
    • 1981, Manual of Nearctic Diptera, volume 1, →ISBN, page 45:
      ...a pair of primitively two-segmented arms, the gonopods (claspers, forcipate claspers, anterior gonapophyses, pregonites, harpagones, parameres) arising posterolaterally on sternite 9...