nauplius

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.

Origin

• Borrowed from New Latin Nauplius (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 ("type of shellfish"), from ναῦς + πλέω; compare Latin Nauplius ("mythological king of Euboea"), from Ancient Greek Ναύπλιος ("mythological founder of the city of Nauplia (Nafplio), a son of Poseidon and Amymone").
• The plural nauplii is from Latin nauplius + -iī.