In birds, its primary function is in the strengthening of the thoracic skeleton to withstand the rigors of flight.
In the Apocritan Hymenoptera, the first abdominal segment is fused to the metathorax, where it forms a structure known as the propodeum.
Adults measure approximately 4 cm (1.5 inches), are black with six relatively large, white, dorsal spots (four over the elytra and two on the thorax).
If its thorax is pinched, it also squirts a clear viscous mucus with unpleasant smell and a bitter taste, faintly alkaline, with many embedded bubbles.
Barraquer–Simons syndrome, rare form of lipodystrophy, which usually first affects the head, and then spreads to the thorax
Gil suffered severe injuries to the skull and thorax in a car crash in 2009, on the road to and just outside La Libertad.
According to Keys to the Genera and Species of Blow Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of America North of Mexico by Terry Whitworth, the distinguishing characteristics of this subfamily are its shining green, blue, or bronze thorax and abdomen, suprasquamal ridge with a setae cluster, and a bare lower calypter.
In some groups of insects, the mesonotum is hypertrophied, such as in Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera), in which the anterior portion of the mesonotum (called the mesoscutum, or simply "scutum") forms most of the dorsal surface of the thorax.
In apocritan Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants), the metasoma consists of the second abdominal segment (which typically forms a petiole) and those segments posterior to it, and is often called the gaster rather than referring to it as the "abdomen"; in these insects, the first abdominal segment is called the propodeum and is fused to the thorax.
Adults display aposematic coloration, consisting of black overall coloring with an orange-red patch on the dorsal surface of the thorax.
The only other tailed Ornithoptera is Ornithoptera meridionalis The abdomen is yellow, the head and thorax are black and green.
Its primary color is black, but it has two bright-red eyespots on its thorax, as well as yellow edging on its thorax and wing case.
It is similar to Xylophanes maculator, but the dorsal lines of the tegulae, thorax and abdomen are fainter.