Parameres ('side parts') are part of the external reproductive organs of male insects and the term was first used by

Verhoeff Verhoeff is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Frederick Herman Verhoeff (1874–1968), American ophthalmic surgeon who developed Verhoeff's stain * Hendrik Verhoeff (c. 1645–1680), Dutch silversmith and assassin * Jacobus Verh ...

in 1893 for the lateral genital lobes in

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

. The primary phallic lobes which appear in the nymph or larval stages may become a pair of penes in the Ephemeroptera or a simple median penis in the

Thysanura Thysanura is the now deprecated name of what was, for over a century, recognised as an order in the class Insecta. The two constituent groups within the former order, the Archaeognatha (jumping bristletails) and the Zygentoma (silverfish and fireb ...

. In higher insect orders from

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassho ...

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

, each of the primary lobes is divided into two secondary lobes or phallomeres, termed parameres and mesomeres (NB: this use of the term "mesomere" is not to be confused with the same term in segmentation

embryology Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

.) In adult insects parameres may elongate and become genital

claspers In biology, a clasper is a male anatomical structure found in some groups of animals, used in mating. Male cartilaginous fish have claspers formed from the posterior portion of their pelvic fin which serve to channel semen into the female's ...

. These claspers may themselves occur in two segments, forming a

proximal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

basimere and a

distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

telomere A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...

harpago ''Harpago'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Strombidae, the true conchs. Harpago ('grappling iron') is also a term used in insect morphology for the distal end of a genital clasper In biology, a clasper is ...

('grappling hook'). A Revised Interpretation of the External Reproductive Organs of Male Insects - R. E. Snodgrass
/ref> The morphology of

insect genitalia Most insects reproduce oviparously, i.e. by laying eggs. The eggs are produced by the female in a pair of ovaries. Sperm, produced by the male in one testis or more commonly two, is transmitted to the female during mating by means of external genit ...

displays enormous diversity and consequently has become of prime importance in taxonomy or the classification of insects by their affinities.

References

{{reflist Insect morphology Animal reproductive system