in arthropods, the penultimate (distal) segment of the limb, usually in movable articulation with the tibia, rarely merging with it into a single segment (tibiotarsus). In most insects, the tarsus consists of one to five subsegments, of which the last one usually bears two ungues (more rarely, one) on its tip. In the Scutigera the tarsus consists of numerous small articles. Sometimes there are special appendages under the ungues that serve as suckers when crawling on smooth objects.
a city in southern Turkey, in feel Province; situated along a railroad and a highway connecting Adana with Mersin. Population, 75,000 (1970). Tarsus is the commercial center of a major cotton-growing region. Industries include cotton ginning, textile manufacturing, cement production, and food processing.
an ancient city in what is now Turkey, near the modern town of the same name; the site was inhabited from the sixth millennium B.C. to the third or fourth century A.D. Excavations at Gözlükule, conducted between 1934 and 1938, established that a settlement existed at the site of Tarsus during the Neolithic period, in the sixth to fifth millennia B.C. In the fourth millennium, Tarsus came under the increasing influence of the El-Obeid culture; in the third millennium it was a fortified town with a developed metallurgical industry; in the second millennium it apparently became a part of the Hittite state, as evidenced by Hittite seals found there. Iron implements, such as axes, adzes, and weapons, first appeared in Tarsus between 1100 B.C. and 850 B.C. and were widely distributed from 850 B.C. to 700 B.C. In the seventh century B.C., Tarsus was part of Assyria. Tombs from the Hellenistic and Roman eras have been excavated from the city’s upper layers.