squilla

noun

squil·​la ˈskwi-lə 

plural squillas or squillae ˈskwi-ˌlē 

-ˌlī

: any of various stomatopod crustaceans (especially genus Squilla) that burrow in mud or beneath stones in shallow water along the seashore

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, genus name, going back to Latin, "any of various smaller crustaceans, as shrimp and crayfish," of obscure origin

Note: The genus name Squilla was introduced by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius (1745-1808) in Mantissa insectorum, sistens eorum species nuper detectas, tomus 1 (Copenhagen, 1787), p. 333, as a revision of Linnaeus's Cancer.

First Known Use

1658, in the meaning defined above