Protura

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A minute six-legged arthropod lacking antennae, found in soil and leaf litter
2. An extremely small insect-like creature with no antennae that inhabits moist soil environments
3. A barely visible arthropod without antennae that lives among decomposing organic matter in the ground

Etymology: Protura are tiny, pale soil-dwelling insects, most under two millimetres long, and the name is a modern scientific coinage. It combines the Greek "prōtos", meaning "first", with "oura", meaning "tail", so it means roughly "first tail." Ancient Greeks never used it. Taxonomists built it from classical parts to name a group they had recognised as distinct. The name points to the rear end of the animal. Protura have a forked appendage at the tip of the abdomen, and early workers apparently read it as a primitive form of the tail-like structures seen in other insects. The label is therefore a description of one feature, chosen by people looking at specimens under the microscope.