At the end of anaphase in a somatic cell, each spindle pole has acquired an equivalent set of daughter chromosomes. The process of cytokinesis which involves the splitting of the daughter cells also begins during late anaphase with the initial formation of a contractile ring consisting of actin and myosin-II filaments positioned beneath the plasma membrane parallel to the metaphase plate.

Later on in the division cycle, the contractile ring will slowly converge to pull the membrane inward in order to divide the cell.