Inbiology,exuviae are the remains of anexoskeleton and related structures that are left afterecdysozoans (includinginsects,crustaceans andarachnids) havemolted. The exuviae of an animal can be important tobiologists as they can often be used to identify thespecies of the animal and even itssex.
As studying insects, crustaceans, or arachnids directly is not always possible, and because exuviae can be collected fairly easily, they can play an important part in helping to determine some general aspects of a species' overalllife cycle such as distribution, sex ratio, production, and proof of breeding in ahabitat. Exuviae have been suggested as a "gold standard" for insect monitoring. For instance, when monitoring dragonfly populations, the presence of exuviae of a species demonstrates that the species has completed its full life cycle from egg to adult in a habitat.[1] However, it has also been suggested that the fact that exuviae can be hard to find could lead to an underestimation of insect species compared to, for example, counting adult insects.[2]
The Latin wordexuviae,[3] meaning "things stripped from a body", is found only in the plural.[4]Exuvia is a derived singular form, although this is aneologism, and not attested in texts by Roman authors. A few modern works use the singular nounexuvium (e.g.[5]). Only a single historical work byPropertius uses the singular formexuvium, but in the meaning "spoils, booty".[6]
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