Caterpillar Head Anatomy

A generic caterpillar head for to showing anatomy.

Sulcus: generally means a depression of some sort, here the sulci are also cleavage lines. This means that the cuticle (exoskeleton) will split along these lines when the caterpillar molts.

Frontoclypeus: a plate of exoskeleton above the labrum.

Stemmata: larval eyes similar to ommatidia (the units of adult insects' compound eyes), but simpler.

Labrum: Sort of an insect upper lip.

Vertex: Forehead, more or less.

Gena: Area around and below the stemmata. The equivalent of cheeks on a human.

Setae: Hairs. Caterpillars gain more hairs every time they molt.

Mandible: Chompy bits.