protopodite

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In Crustacea, the first or basal division of an appendage of a segment, by which such appendage articulates with its somite; the root or first joint of a limb, which may bear an endopodite or an exopodite, or both of these. See endopodite, and cut under chela.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Zoöl.) The basal portion, or two proximal and more or less consolidated segments, of an appendage of a crustacean.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun zoology The basal segment of the limb of a crustacean