The sternal region of the podosomapodosoma:
region of the idiosoma bearing the legs (body segments III-VI); according to currently accepted theory, in acariform mites the dorsal portion of this division has regressed and only the leg bases are included.
is formed differently in acariform and parasitiform mites. In the Parasitiformes, the leg coxae articulate with the bodybody:
the idiosoma of mites.
and the intercoxal region is occupied by sternal elements anteriorly and anteriorly intruding genital elements posteriorly. The sternal elements are well sclerotized in the Holothyrida and Mesostigmata, typically in the form of a large sternal shieldsternal shield:
a shield in the anterior intercoxal region of parasitiform mites that bears one or more pairs of sternal setae.
(sometimes fragmentedfragmented:
broken up, composed of several discrete parts rather than of a single unit.
).
Primitively in Acariformes, the leg coxae are fused to the bodybody:
the idiosoma of mites. wall to form individual epimera, which tend to fuse together into 1—2 regions in more derived lineages, or when sclerotization is reduced, to become reduced to coxal plates or internal apodemes.
Author: David E. Walter
Content last updated Sept. 2006, unless indicated otherwise
Lucid key player updated Sept. 2025
idtools.org
