Anamorphosis (biology)


Anamorphosis or Anamorphogenesis refers to postembryonic development and moulting in Arthropoda that results in the addition of abdominal body segments, even after sexual maturity. An example of this occurs in proturans and millipedes.
Protura hatch with only 8 abdominal segments and add the remaining 3 in subsequent moults. These new segments arise behind the last abdominal segment, but in front of the telson.
Anamorphosis has been depicted various times throughout early modern literature