Archetype

Homology Weekly: Hypopygium

Last week’s post featured the acidopore: a modification of the ventral plate in the last visible segment of the abdomen in females, as it occurs in the formicine subfamily of ants (e.g., wood ants, carpenter ants, weaver ants). Counting from front to back, this ventral plate is part of the seventh abdominal segment and is denoted by a special term in insects: hypopygium (pl. hypopygia). It is colored in red in the images below.

Abdomen of a Leptogenys sp worker from Nepal, profile view (Scanning Electron Micrograph, Roberto Keller/AMNH)

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Tags: Abdomen, Hypopygium, Leptogenys, Morphology