nauplius
/ˈnɔ.pli.əs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.36 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A crustacean larva that has three pairs of locomotive organs (corresponding to antennules, antennae, and mandibles), a median eye, and little or no segmentation of the body.
name
A descendant of the founder of Nauplia who ruled the city (alternatively, Euboea), was one of the Argonauts, and was father to Palamedes, who fought in the Trojan War.
Example Sentences
- "The oval body, with the abdomen not yet differentiated, and bearing no limbs; the (usually) three pairs of limbs, representing the first and second antennæ and mandibles of the adult, together with the single eye, are the distinguishing characteristics of the nauplius stage."
- "Here is an embryo, or young form, which has just escaped from the egg, and is hurrying off seawards to "see life," without doubt, and to begin life in earnest as well. You now behold a little body, which, roughly described, we shall say has a triangular shape. It has a tail behind, and the shield or "shell" with which the little body is covered, is prolonged in front and at its side-angles or corners into spines or horns. Three pairs of feet, or appendages that resemble these organs, are possessed by the infant barnacle, the two hinder pairs being forked at their tips and provided with long bristles. A single eye appears in front of the two foremost "feet;" and a mouth, stomach, and intestine are discovered within this little body. Thus provided within and without, this little Cyclopean creature swims merrily through the sea. In this stage it is universally named the Nauplius."
- "Fairy-shrimps are primitive crustaceans, most of which live in temporary ponds, roadside ditches, or marshes that dry up in sumer. They lay thick-walled eggs that withstand summer drying and winter freezing, lying dormant in the mud until they hatch out as naupliuses when wetted by the first heavy spring rain."
- "It is not certain that phaseluses are trilobites and not naupliuses of crustaceans or an extinct group of arthropods that has yet to be recognized."
- "The copepod nauplii concentrations were significantly different among stations and by depth (Appendices 3 and 4)."
- "I suggest that several species of nauplioids hybridized with representatives of several groups of arthropods to give them nauplius larvae. […] The occurrence of nauplius larvae in crustacean taxa appears to be almost random, and it bears little relationship to adult morphology or to evolutionary history. This is consistent with the proposal that nauplii were acquired independently and at various times, and it challenge the widely held view that nauplii played a fundamental role in crustacean evolution."
Etymology
] Borrowed from New Latin Nauplius (former genus name) (coined by Danish naturalist Otto Friedrich Müller (1730–1784) who mistakenly thought the larvae were a separate genus of animal), from Latin nauplius (“argonaut, paper nautilus (genus Argonauta)”), from Ancient Greek ναύπλιος (naúplios, “type of shellfish”), from ναῦς (naûs, “ship”) + πλέω (pléō, “to sail”); compare Latin Nauplius (“mythological king of Euboea”), from Ancient Greek Ναύπλιος (Naúplios, “mythological founder of the city of Nauplia (Nafplio), a son of Poseidon and Amymone”). The plural nauplii is from Latin nauplius + -iī (plural of -ius).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈnɔ.pli.əs/
- British English: /ˈnɔː.plɪ.əs/