Definition:
Slender tubules attached to the insect's alimentary canal, at the point where the midgut and hindgut are joined. The Malpighian tubules function as an excretory system and aid in osmoregulation. The tubules empty into the alimentary canal, and remove nitrogenous wastes from the insect's body.
An Italian anatomist named Marcello Malpighi discovered the tubules in the seventeenth century.
