Word.ws English Dictionary

nauplius

Syllables: nau·pli·us/ˈnɔː.plɪ.əs/US/ˈnɔ.pli.əs/

nauplius 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.

nauplius: a crustacean larva that has three pairs of locomotive organs (corresponding to antennules,...
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

nauplius (plural nauplii or naupliuses)

  1. 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.
    • 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.1870 November 16, A[lpheus] S[pring] Packard, “The Development of Limulus Polyphemus”, in Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, volume II, Boston, Mass.: Boston Society of Natural...
    • 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...1877, Andrew Wilson, “Some Animal Histories”, in Robert Brown, editor, Science for All, volume I, London; Paris; New York, N.Y.: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., →OCLC, page 80, column 1

Proper noun capitalized: Nauplius

Nauplius

  1. (Greek) A son of the god Poseidon by Amymone, daughter of Danaus, and founder of the city of Nauplia.
  2. (Greek) 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.
    • But according to Lycophron, the last of the Greek poets, Penelope committed adultery with one of the suitors at the persuasion of the aged Nauplius, who avenged the death of his son Palamedes by enticing almost all the wives of the Greeks into prostitution.2003, Giovanni Boccaccio, translated by Virginia Brown, Famous Women, page 81
    • A scene from Aristophanes' Women at the Thesmophoria (765-84) preserves a parody of the event which featured Palamedes' brother Oeax writing a message on oars in the hope that one will reach his father Nauplius with news of the betrayal and murder.2013, Isabelle Torrance, Metapoetry in Euripides, page 145

nauplius meaning in Tamil

nauplius in Tamil

கணுக்காலிகளின் முதல் கட்டப்புழு, வளர்ச்சிப் பருவங்களின் முதல் கட்டம்

Examples of nauplius in a sentence

  • In this stage it is universally named the Nauplius.1877, Andrew Wilson, “Some Animal Histories”, in Robert Brown, editor, Science for All, volume I, London; Paris; New York, N.Y.: Cassell...
  • 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.1987, Ralph [Morris] Buchsbaum, Mildred Buchsbaum, John Pearse, Vicki Pearse, “Lobsters and Other Arthropods: Crustaceans”, in Animals...
  • 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.1997, Roger L[eroy] Kaesler, editor, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology: Part O, Arthropoda 1, Trilobita Revised, revised edition...
  • The taxonomic distribution of nauplii within Crustacea raises questions, however, about the evolution of a nonfeeding but swimming nauplius from an embryonized nauplius.2018, Richard R. Strathmann, “Larvae and Direct Development”, in Gary A. Wellborn, Martin Thiel, editors, Life Histories (The Natural...

Forms of nauplius

pluralnauplii
pluralnaupliuses

Origin of nauplius

] 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).

Words formed from nauplius

Questions about nauplius

What does nauplius mean?
Nauplius means 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.
What is nauplius in Tamil?
Nauplius in Tamil is கணுக்காலிகளின் முதல் கட்டப்புழு, வளர்ச்சிப் பருவங்களின் முதல் கட்டம். See Nauplius meaning in Tamil.
How do you use nauplius in a sentence?
In this stage it is universally named the Nauplius.
What part of speech is nauplius?
Nauplius can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce nauplius?
Nauplius is pronounced /ˈnɔː.plɪ.əs/ (UK).
What is the plural of nauplius?
The plural of nauplius is nauplii.

Words near nauplius in the dictionary

  1. nauplial
  2. naupliar
  3. nauplii
  4. naupliiform
  5. nauplioid
  6. nauplius
  7. naupliuses
  8. naur
  9. nauropometer
  10. nauropometers
  11. Nauros

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nauplius (page history and authors); Nauplius (page history and authors); nauplius (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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