Coxal gland

The coxal gland is a gland found in some arthropods, for collecting and excreting urine. They are found in all arachnids (with the exception of some Acari), and in other chelicerates, such as horseshoe crabs. The coxal gland is thought to be homologous with the antennal gland of crustaceans. The gland consists of an end sac (saccule), a long duct (labyrinth) and a terminal bladder (reservoir). There is generally only one pair (two in some spiders), and they open on the coxae of the walking legs or at the base of the second antennae in the case of the crustacean antennal gland.:70–71 The coxal secretion of adult female ticks of Ornithodoros erraticus contains a sex pheromone. In Spiders, the coxal glands should not be confused with segmentary organs, a whole set of even and symmetrical exocrine structures, apparently metamerized, located in the prosoma of spiders on the base of the appendages, the most important being the retrognathocoxal glands. They were discovered microscopically and named by André Lopez for the first time in Metepeira and later on in other genera (1978,1983,1984)(external link "archentoflor")