Metanotum

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The upper plate of the last segment of an insect's thorax, lying just behind the mesonotum and before the abdomen
2. The dorsal sclerite on the rearmost part of the thorax in an insect, situated directly behind the mesonotum
3. A hardened back section of the third thoracic segment in insects, forming the top surface between the mesonotum and the abdomen

Etymology: "Metanotum" is the name for the third segment of an insect's thorax, the section behind the mesonotum (the middle back plate) and just in front of the abdomen. Its name is built from two Greek elements: "meta-", meaning "after" or "behind", and "nōton", meaning "back". Put together, it literally means "behind the back," a fitting label for the last of the three thoracic segments that carry the wings and legs. The term was formed in New Latin, the scientific Latin used by naturalists from the early modern period onward, so it was coined as a technical label rather than inherited from ancient Greek usage. Ancient Greek speakers used "nōton" for the back in ordinary speech, but they had no reason to name a specific insect body segment. Entomologists took the Greek pieces and assembled them to name a part of the body that needed a precise, Latin-style label.