Zool. [a. Gr. τέλσον a limit.] The last segment of the abdomen or its median axis in certain crustaceans and arachnidans, as the middle flipper of a lobster’s tail-fin, the long sharp spine of the king-crab, or the sting of the scorpion.
1855. C. Spence Bate, in Brit. Assoc. Rep., 28. The last [appendage of the abdomen], which for convenience we shall designate by the name of Telson,… is a rudimentary appendage, modified upon the type of the preceding three.
1872. Nicholson, Palæont., 144. The last segment of the abdomen is known as the ‘telson,’ and it is variously regarded as a somite without appendages, or as an unpaired appendage placed in the middle line of the body.
1880. Huxley, Crayfish, i. 19. The abdomen [has] a terminal flap which is called the telson.
