Palpus

Definition and stakes

Portrait of J. H. Emerton J. H. Emerton,  The Structure and Habits of Spiders

“ The outside of the organ has various horns and appendages. Fig. 48 is the palpus of another spider, where the outer tube is so long, that it is coiled up over the basal part of the bulb; and the end rests on a strong spine at one side of the palpus.
Fig. 48.
Not only the terminal joints of the palpi, but also the next, and sometimes next two joints, are modified in shape, with the development [Pg 92] of the palpal organ, Fig. 48. The shape of these organs is very constant in the same species of spider, and thus becomes one of the most convenient marks of such a group.
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Source: Gutenberg

Sir A. E. Shipley,  The Cambridge natural history, Vol… (1909)

“ No direct connection could be found by way of the palpus with the abdominal organs, which, indeed, were seen to have an orifice between the lung-sacs. It is now known that some spiders at all events spin a slight web upon which they deposit a drop of spermatic fluid, which they afterwards absorb into their palpal organs for transference to the female. Secondary sexual differences are often very marked, the male being almost invariably the smaller in body, though its legs are frequently longer and more powerful than those of the female. ”
Source: Gutenberg

John Traherne Moggridge,  Harvesting Ants and Trap-Door Spiders

“ The Palpi are similar in colour to the legs; they are strong and about equal in length to the legs of the second pair, and have a double longitudinal row of strong spines widely separated and divergent from each other beneath them; the digital joint (like the tarsi of the legs) is furnished with other spines between these two rows; each palpus terminates with a single untoothed curved claw. The Falces are strong, prominent, rounded in the profile line, and have some hairs, bristles, and spines near their fore extremities ”
Source: Gutenberg

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