voorlijf

Voorlijf, literally “forebody” in Dutch, is a descriptive term used in biology to denote the anterior part of an animal's body, in contrast with the achterlijf or hind body. It refers to a body region rather than a defined taxonomic unit, and its exact boundaries can vary among groups and authors.

Among arthropods, the forebody is typically the front end of the body. In insects, it commonly includes the head and the thorax, which bear the main sensory organs, mouthparts and, in many species, wings. In arachnids, the term is often used to describe the anterior tagma, roughly corresponding to the prosoma or cephalothorax (the fused head and thorax).

In crustaceans and other groups, the usage can be more variable, with some authors including or excluding other segments as part of the forebody depending on anatomy and context.

In developmental biology and anatomy, voorlijf is used to describe embryonic or morphological regions that give rise to the head and thorax, or to indicate function focusing on the front part of the body. Because it is a descriptive, not a formal taxonomic term, its precise meaning should be clarified from the context or accompanying anatomical definitions.