Pseudoscorpions have a pectinate (i.e., with comb-like teeth) serrula on their chelicerae. Comb-like structures (pectinate lamellae) are found on the primary mouthparts of some centipedes, diplurans, and insects. Springtails have a grinding molar area of the mandibles that may appear comb-like and is accepted as such here.
Insects sometimes have pectinate antennae, a condition not known in other hexapods.
Chelytid mites (Prostigmata, Chelytidae) often have one or more pairs of comb-shaped (pectinate) setae on their palps, as do some velvet mites.
Scorpions have a pair of ventral, comb-like processes called pectines. These are better developed in males than in females and may function in mate location and other sensory behaviors.
Some mites and insects have pectinate tarsal claws or empodia, and often have pectinate setae on their legs.
The trichobothrium (bothridial sensillum) on the prodorsum of some acariform mites may be branched to pectinate.
Author: David E. Walter
Content last updated Sept. 2006, unless indicated otherwise
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