postfurcan.
/ˌpəʊs(t)ˈfəːkə/, U.S. /ˌpoʊs(t)ˈfərkə/ Entomology. Now rare.
The furca of the metasternum, which serves for the attachment of muscles in the metathorax.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > parts of insects > [noun] > thorax > process on or furca > postfurca
postfurca1826
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. III. xxxiii. 383 Postfurca (the Postfurca). A process of the Endosternum, terminating in three subhorizontal acute branches, resembling the letter Y,..to which the muscles that move the hind-legs, &c. are affixed.
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals vii. 404 Forked or double apodemes, the antefurca, medifurca, and postfurca, project from the sternal wall of each somite of the thorax into the cavity.
1937 J. R. de la Torre-Bueno Gloss. Entomol. 223 Postfurca, an internal process of the metasternum to which the muscles of the hind legs are attached.
Derivatives
postˈfurcal adj. rare
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1890 Cent. Dict. (at cited word) A postfurcal apodeme.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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