Malpighian tubule
(mal-pig-ee-un)
A unique excretory organ of insects that empties into the digestive tract, removes nitrogenous wastes from the blood, and functions in osmoregulation.
Mammalia ...
Malpighian tubules The excretory organs of insects; a set of long tubules that open into the gut. PICTURE ...
malpighian tubules (Marcello Malpighi, Italian anatomist, 1628-1694). Blind tubules opening into the hindgut of nearly all insects and some myriapods and arachnids, and functioning primarily as excretory organs.
In insects, a system involving Malpighian tubules is utilized to excrete metabolic waste. Metabolic waste diffuses or is actively transported into the tubule, which transports the wastes to the intestines.
Excretion of nitrogenous waste takes place via Malpighian tubules. The nervous system of insects is complex, including a number of ganglia and a ventral, double nerve cord. Sense organs are complex and acute.
Many microscopic anatomical structures are named after him, including a skin layer (Malpighi layer) and two different Malpighian corpuscles in the kidneys and the spleen, as well as the Malpighian tubules in the excretory system of insects.
Mollusks and arthropods have similar nephridia but they are concentrated into kidneys. Insects have Malpighian tubules which are blind at one end and which ramify throughout their bodies.
 See also: Organ, Plant, Embryo, Skin, Tissue
  
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