Talk:Proleg

"crochets" aka "crotchets"

I am new to detailed lepidopteran anatomy; I have known about prolegs for years but until today I was unfamiliar with plantae and crochets.

In trying to determine how to say "crochet", I ran across difficulties. Some of the published scientific papers discussing insect anatomy spell the word as "crotchet" (pronunciation ˈkɹɒtʃ.ɪt). Wiktionary lists "crochet" with pronunciation kɹoʊˈʃeɪ, crow-shay, for the textile craft, but it does not mention anatomical crochets of any type.

Can someone with a solid entomological anatomy background please give some input? Do crochets on a proleg sound like crotchets, the musical notations, or like crochets, as in "he crochets a cardigan"? Should wiktionary be amended to add a biological or anatomical definition for crochet? Krnntp (talk) 12:55, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

Table from german entry

I've made a preliminary translation of the table in de:Bauchfuß and put it into User:Ralf_Muschall/Prolegtable

If no problems are mentioned, I intend to insert it here. I'm not sure about the row Pamphiliinae/Pamphiliidae, I don't even know what these are and whether the mentioned leg configuration is present in the whole family or only in the subfamily. Ralf Muschall (talk) 14:40, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

Done Ralf Muschall (talk) 22:05, 21 August 2023 (UTC)

Interesting detail: Alsophila pometaria (a geometer moth in Massachusetts) has a half-sized pair on segment 8 (which might cause caterpillars to be confused with owlets). See https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/landscape/fact-sheets/fall-cankerworm and https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications/cb4552fc-1d52-4683-8eca-85585d80be5e. If I learn that this is a more common phenomenon, I'll update the table. Ralf Muschall (talk) 17:20, 25 May 2025 (UTC)

I added a bit of explanation on the proleg positions in the page of that species Alsophila_pometaria — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ralf Muschall (talk • contribs) 17:30, 25 May 2025 (UTC)