The caudal ramus (plural: ''caudal rami'') is a characteristic feature of primitive

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s. Located on the anal somite (

telson The telson () is the hindmost division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment (biology), segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segm ...

segment), the caudal ramus is a pair of

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part or natural prolongation that protrudes from an organism's body such as an arm or a leg. Protrusions from single-celled bacteria and archaea are known as cell-surface appendages or surface app ...

-like or spine-like protrusions. Specific structures which are rod or blade-like are referred to as ''

caudal furca Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into th ...

''.

References

*Brusca, Gary J. & Richard C. Brusca, ''Invertebrates''. 2003. Crustacean anatomy {{crustacean-stub