endopodite

American  

[en-dop-uh-dahyt] / ɛnˈdɒp əˌdaɪt /

Also endopod

noun

Zoology.

1. the inner or medial branch of a two-branched crustacean leg or appendage.

---

Other Word Forms

• endopoditic adjective

Etymology

Origin of endopodite

1865–70; endo- + -podite < Greek pod- (stem of poús ) foot + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Instead of having a spiny, triangular protopodite for processing food, they had a smooth, rounded structure attached to a short, flexible fingerlike endopodite that was just half the length of the creature’s other walking legs.

From New York Times • May 6, 2022

The standard trilobite limb is segmented into three distinct portions — a walking leg, or endopodite, and a gill structure, the exopodite, are connected to the body by a spiny food-processing section, the protopodite.

From New York Times • May 6, 2022

In many cases, one of the branches, generally the endopodite, is more strongly developed than the other.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7 "Crocoite" to "Cuba" by Various

In the Malacostraca they are chiefly sensory, the endopodite forming a long flagellum, while the exopodite may form a lamellar “scale,” probably useful as a balancer in swimming, or may disappear altogether.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7 "Crocoite" to "Cuba" by Various

Thus, in the thoracic limbs of the Malacostraca, the endopodite generally forms a walking-leg while the exopodite becomes a swimming-branch or may disappear altogether.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7 "Crocoite" to "Cuba" by Various