exuvia

English

A dragonfly shedding the integument it wore as a nymph. The nymphal shell will remain as the exuvia. The white filaments hanging out of the exuvia are the linings of the tracheae, showing that they too are part of the integument.

This dragonfly has left its slate-grey exuvia and is expanding its new, soft integument to full size before it hardens. Note that the exuvia shows every detail of the external anatomy of the nymph, including eyes, mouthparts, antennae and bristles

Etymology

From Latin exuvia, back-formation from the plurale tantum exuviae (“the skin of an animal sloughed off”), from exuō (“to take off”). See also exuvium.

Noun

exuvia (plural exuvia or exuviae)

1. (biology) The remains of the exoskeleton after any of the Ecdysozoa, such as Arthropoda, has sloughed, discarding its old integument and developing the new one.
   • 1787 George Adams (Mathematical Instrument Maker, the Younger.): Essays on the Microscope

     The exuvia or cast skin of insects, being exceedingly transparent, are well adapted for observation, as they exhibit the outward appearance of the little animal; among these we may reckon those of spiders and cimices, but particularly the forficula, or earwig, which is an elegant exuvia.

   • 1868 C. S. BATE & J. O.: WESTWOOD BRITISH SESSILE-EYED CRUSTACEA.

     The immediate assumption of every carcinologist will be that we may have mistaken exuvia, or cast skin, for the animal. With the exuviae all the appendages, together with the stomach and alimentary canal, are thrown off.

   • 2013 A.J. Boucot: Evolutionary Paleobiology of Behavior and Coevolution

     By means of convulsive opisthosomal contraction and persistent flapping of the gills, the moulting individual eventually emerges from the exuvia through a hydrostatically expanded suture along the frontal margin of the prosoma.

   Synonym: moult

Noun

exuvia

1. plural of exuvium

Further reading

• exuviae on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ekˈsu.u̯i.a/, [ɛkˈs̠uː̯iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ekˈsu.vi.a/, [eɡˈzuːviä]

Noun

exuvia f (genitive exuviae); first declension

1. (rare) Alternative form of exuviae (“that which has been taken off or sloughed off; spoils, clothes, booty”)
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.274-275:

     “[...] quantum mūtātus ab illō
     Hectore quī redit exuviās indūtus Achillī [...].”

     “[...] How much he had changed from that Hector who returns [from battle] having put on the spoils of Achilles [...].”

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	exuvia	exuviae
Genitive	exuviae	exuviārum
Dative	exuviae	exuviīs
Accusative	exuviam	exuviās
Ablative	exuviā	exuviīs
Vocative	exuvia	exuviae

Descendants

• → Portuguese: exúvia