[Taxacom] exuvia versus exuvium

[Vinícius Antonio de Oliveira Dittrich]

   Response from Tarciso Filgueiras (tfilg at uol.com.br) to the question.
   Best wishes

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: tfilg <tfilg at uol.com.br>
Date: 6 juin 2008 17:00
Subject: Re:Exuvia versus exuvium
To: vinarc <vinarc at gmail.com>


To whom it may concern:

My approach to this problem is very simple. Therefore, it may or may not
help your quest for a satisfactory anwser.The standard Latin diccionaires
register the word as one of those that are used only in the plural (exuviae,
exuviarum; reliquiae, reliquiarum, etc.). But in the particular world of
biology, this word has been simplified and has been used as a noun of the
first Latin declension (exuvia, ae, f.). For that, the best source of
information, an authoritative one, is Brown, 1956 (Composition of scientific
words, Smithsonian Institution Press), p. 312 (exuvia) and p. 716 (exuvia,
under "skin", slough).
In brief, for biological purposes, exuvia is the singular form and exuviae
the plural. I found no basis for the use of "exuvium".

Tarciso S. Filgueiras, botanist (also doubles as professor of botanical
Latin...)


-- 
   Dr. Vinícius Antonio de Oliveira Dittrich
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