<p>The insect pretarsi are the sites of direct contact with the proximal environment. Aspects of pretarsal structures have been described in the literature. Comprehensive and detailed histological analyses of the pretarsal composition depicting the interaction of the different types of outside and inside tissues in insects are, however, anecdotal. Here, we present a tri-dimensional image of the tarsal ends of the housefly <i>Musca domestica</i> at the ultrastructural level using focussed-ion beam combined with scanning electron microscopy. In particular, we find that the different functional elements of the pretarsus have distinct cuticle thicknesses. In detail, the cuticle is thin at the joint to the fifth tarsomere, thickens in the dorsal claws and the ventral unguitractor plate; the ventral pulvilli, again, have a rather thin cuticle with the basis of their tenent acanthae (adhesive cuticle protrusions) arranged like roof tiles before the shafts protrude forming the adhesive acanthal cushion. Inside the cuticular tube, we discerned a composite filament with the distal end of a large gland, paired bundles of axons projecting into the claws but not the pulvilli and a tracheal tube. These elements are associated with the cuticular unguitractor tendon in the fifth tarsal subsegment that bridges to the external cuticle via a possibly flexible membranous cuticle. These data will serve in studying the pretarsal function regarding its interaction with the environment associated with its different structures in molecular and reverse genetic experiments.</p>