Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 External morphology and functional anatomy
- 3 The integument, moulting and regeneration
- 4 The musculature and endoskeleton
- 5 The nervous system and sense organs
- 6 Sensory responses and related behaviour
- 7 Endocrinology
- 8 The alimentary canal
- 9 The poison glands
- 10 Feeding and digestion
- 11 The respiratory system
- 12 The circulatory system
- 13 Pigments
- 14 Connective tissue and fat body
- 15 Head glands
- 16 The Malpighian tubules and nephridia
- 17 The reproductive system and reproduction
- 18 Post-embryonic development and life history
- 19 Epidermal glands and their function, defence and predators
- 20 Parasites
- 21 Physiology and ecology
- 22 Taxonomy
- 23 Relationships of the chilopod orders
- 24 The classification of the Chilopoda
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The integument, moulting and regeneration
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 External morphology and functional anatomy
- 3 The integument, moulting and regeneration
- 4 The musculature and endoskeleton
- 5 The nervous system and sense organs
- 6 Sensory responses and related behaviour
- 7 Endocrinology
- 8 The alimentary canal
- 9 The poison glands
- 10 Feeding and digestion
- 11 The respiratory system
- 12 The circulatory system
- 13 Pigments
- 14 Connective tissue and fat body
- 15 Head glands
- 16 The Malpighian tubules and nephridia
- 17 The reproductive system and reproduction
- 18 Post-embryonic development and life history
- 19 Epidermal glands and their function, defence and predators
- 20 Parasites
- 21 Physiology and ecology
- 22 Taxonomy
- 23 Relationships of the chilopod orders
- 24 The classification of the Chilopoda
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The integument
The integument is the outer covering of arthropods and consists of a single layer of epidermal cells (often called the hypodermis) which rests on a basement membrane and secretes the cuticle. The cuticle covers the outer surface of the animal and lines the invaginations that arise from it such as the fore- and hind-guts, the tracheae, the lower parts of the genital ducts and the ducts of the epidermal glands.
The centipede cuticle appears to consist of three main layers: an outer, thin, refractile membrane usually about 1 μm in thickness called the epicuticle; a rigid, usually amber-coloured exocuticle and an inner thick elastic layer, the endocuticle, which is colourless and lamellated. The varying terminologies that have been used for these layers by different authors are shown in Table 1. The layers below the epicuticle are sometimes termed the procuticle. The outer part of the procuticle becomes tanned and sclerotised to form the exocuticle, the remaining undifferentiated part being the endocuticle. Between the exocuticle and the endocuticle there may be a region of hardened but not fully darkened cuticle which is fuchsinophil and lamellate like the endocuticle. This layer is termed the mesocuticle. The exocuticle and endocuticle show a variety of staining reactions and Blower (1951) regarded the optical appearance of the two layers as the only criterion which constantly differentiated them.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Biology of Centipedes , pp. 47 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1981