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The upper surface of the prosoma is covered by a semicircular carapace, while the underside bears five pairs of walking legs and a pair of pincer-like chelicerae. The mouth is located on underside of the center of the prosoma, between the bases of the walking legs, and lies behind a lip-like structure called the labrum .
Millipedes (originating from the Latin mille, "thousand", and pes, "foot") [1] [2] are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature.
The spiny stick insect (Heteropteryx dilatata) of Southeast Asia does not reach the extreme lengths of its cousins, the body reaching up to 16 cm (6.3 in) long, but it is much bulkier. The largest Heteropteryx weighed about 65 g (2.3 oz) and was 3.5 cm (1.4 in) wide across the thickest part of the body. [8]
In some species all the legs are functionless, apart from the front pair in males. The abdomen is long and roughly cylindrical, with ten segments and two or three long cerci (tail-like appendages) at the tip. Like Entognatha, Archaeognatha and Zygentoma, the spiracles on the abdomen do not have closing muscles.
"The specific epithet refers to Moby Dick, the famous albino sperm whale imagined by Herman Melville (1851), with whom the new species shares several uncommon characteristics, such as the lack of hindlimbs, the presence of flipper-like forelimbs, highly reduced eyes, and the complete absence of pigmentation"
Additional evidence emerged when F. A. McKittrick (1965) noted similar morphological characteristics between some termites and cockroach nymphs. [18] The similarities among these cockroaches and termites have led some scientists to reclassify termites as a single family, the Termitidae , within the order Blattodea.
Brachiopod fossils show great diversity in the morphology of the shells and lophophore, while the modern genera show less diversity but provide soft-bodied characteristics. Both fossils and extant species have limitations that make it difficult to produce a comprehensive classification of brachiopods based on morphology.
The largest of all extant termites are the queens of the species Macrotermes bellicosus, measuring up to over 10 centimetres (4 in) in length. [60] Another giant termite, the extinct Gyatermes styriensis, flourished in Austria during the Miocene and had a wingspan of 76 millimetres (3 in) and a body length of 25 millimetres (1 in). [61] [note 1]