exuviae
/ɪɡˈzjuːvɪiː
/ /ɛɡˈzjuːvɪiː/plural noun [also treated as singular] Zoology
The cast or sloughed skin of an animal, especially of an insect larva.Emerged adult Axarus and shed pupal exuviae were removed from the trap daily....
- This assemblage, perhaps representing an accumulation of molted exuviae, was apparently preserved as the result of rapid burial by carbonate muds and silts during a storm event.
- All specimens are exuviae, with thin and fragile carapaces and abdomens and fragmentary bodies and appendages.
Derivatives
exuvial
/ /ɛɡˈzjuːvɪəl / adjective ...- Most scorpion fossils are thought to be exuvial.
- Exuvial samples were collected at stations above and below organic effluent inflows ...
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin, literally 'animal skins, spoils of the enemy', from exuere 'divest oneself of'.