 Femur and tibia - long- walking.

Eg. Fore leg and middle leg of grasshopper.

 Legs - running.
 Femur is not swollen. Eg. All the three pairs of legs of cockroach.
 Trochanter is fused with femur.
Hind femur - enlarged to accommodate the powerful extensor muscles of
tibia-leaping.
Two rows of spines - ventrolateral edges- heavily sclerotised and rigid,
since, the force of leaping is exerted against it.
 Four spurs- end of the tibia- gaining purchase against the substratum.
Eg. Hind leg of grasshopper
 Legs - clinging to the hairs.
 Tibia is stout and at one side bears a thumb-like process. The
tarsus is single segmented. There is a single large claw that
usually fits against a thumb-like process which forms an efficient
mechanism for hanging on to the hairs of host. Tarsus and pre-
tarsus work against the thumb in much the same way as the
human fore finger works against the thumb in grasping an object.
Eg. All the three pairs of legs of head louse.
 Fore legs of mole cricket - cutting and shoveling implements. Femur is
stout. Tibia is short and stout and bears distally two or three strongly
pointed tines. The first two segments or tarsus are also produced into
strong tines. The tines of basitarsus work against one of the tibial tines
to function as shears in cutting fine rootlets. Tympanum is present in
fore tibia.
 Fore legs - capturing the prey. They are of no use in locomotion.
Coxa is long and mobile. The elongated coxae give an extended
reach to capture the prey. The femur is large and grooved along
the ventral surface with spines on the two opposing surfaces of
femur. The spiny tibia fits into the femoral groove when it
snaps down over the prey.
Eg. Fore legs of preying mantis.
 Hind legs - swimming.
Femur, tibia and the first four tarsomeres are broad and flattened.
Their edges are provided with flattened setae. The hind legs
serve as oars.
 Eg. Hind legs of giant water bug and water beetle
 Pre-tarsus consists of a pair of lateral adhesive pads called
pulvilli and a pair of claws.
 Arolium is absent.
 But a median spine like structure, empodium, is present.
 The pulvilli are covered with dense mats of tiny glandular hairs
called tenent hairs. Secretions of these glandular hairs are
helpful in clinging to smooth surfaces and to walk upside
down on the ceiling.
 Eg. All the three pairs of legs of house fly.
 Legs are situated just behind the head and anterior in position.
This is made possible because of the anterior shifting of the sterna
of the thorax. Legs are spiny and closely placed, which are
useful in seizing the prey during flight. Captured insects are
kept in the leg-basket. Legs are not useful in locomotion.
Eg. Legs of dragonfly and damselfly
 The tarsus is flattened with adhesive discs, which is
useful to clasp the mate during copulation.
Eg. Fore legs of male water beetle.
 FORAGIAL LEG: (Forage-to collect food
materials) Eg. Legs of honeybee
 Eye brush: Hairs on tibia constitute the eye brush, which is useful to
clean the compound eyes.
 Antennae cleaner or strigilis: It consists of two structures viz., velum
or fibula and antenna comb. Velum is a movable clasp present at the
distal end of tibia. Antenna comb is a semicircular notch lined with
small spines. Antenna cleaner is useful to clean the antenna. This
structure is also present in many pollen-feeding wasps.
 Pollen brush: Bristles on basitarsus form the pollen brush, which is
useful to collect polled form the head, and mouthparts.
 Pollen brush: Stiff hairs on basitarsus from the pollen brush
which is useful to collect pollen form middle part of their body.
 Tibial spur: At the distal end of the tibia, a movable spur is
present, which is useful to loosen the pellets of pollen from the
pollen basket of hind legs and to clean wings and spiracles.
 Pollen basket: Corbicula. The outer surface of the hind tibia is concave. The
edges of the depressed area are fringed with long hairs. The pollen basket
enables the bee to carry a larger load of pollen and propolis from the field
to the hive.
 Pollen packer- pollen press. It consists of pecten and auricle. Pecten is a row
of stout bristles at the distal end of tibia. Auricle is a small plate fringed with
hairs at the basal end of basitarsus. Pollen packer is useful to load pollen in
corbicula.
 Pollen comb: About ten rows or stiff spines are present on the inner side of
hind basitarsus. The pollen comb is use to collect pollen from middle legs and
from posterior part of the body.
 Two to five pairs of abdominal legs - prolegs in caterpillar.
Prolegs - thick, fleshy and not segmented- shed with last larval moult.
one pair of prolegs - last abdominal segment - anal prolegs or claspers.
The tip of the proleg is called planta upon which are borne hooks or
claws known as crochets which are useful in crawling or clinging to
surface.
 The full complement of prolegs is carried on abdominal segments 3, 4,
5, 6 and 10. Eg. Abdominal legs of caterpillar