Zool. [f. L. terg-um back + -ITE1 3.] A back-plate, formed by the fusion of a pair of serial plates of one of the somites or segments of an arthropod or other articulated animal.
1885. Athenæum, 5 Dec., 736/2. On the opposite interior surface of the last tergite are chitinous points.
1899. G. H. Carpenter, Insects, i. 21. The pronotum … is larger than the two succeeding tergites (mesonotum and metanotum).
Hence Tergitic a., of or pertaining to a tergite.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
