mollusca

mollusca pl (plural only)

1. (archaic) Molluscs.
   • 1851, S[amuel] P[ickworth] Woodward, “Classes of the Mollusca”, in A Manual of the Mollusca; or, A Rudimentary Treatise of Recent and Fossil Shells, London: John Weale, […], page 6:

     The mollusca are animals with soft bodies, enveloped in a muscular skin, and usually protected by a univalve or bivalve shell. […] The univalve mollusca are encephalous, or furnished with a distinct head; they have eyes and tentacula, and the mouth is armed with jaws.

   • 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 100:

     Turning for a very brief space to animals: on the land there are some hermaphrodites, as land-mollusca and earth-worms; but these all pair.

   • 1862, Arthur Lutze, translated by Charles J[ulius] Hempel, “[Appendix.] The Human Body”, in Manual of Homœopathic Theory and Practice. Designed for the Use of Physicians and Families., New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa.: […] William Radde, […], page 532:

     The amphibious animals are provided with special organs for the sense of smell, although a very delicate sense of smell is likewise met with among the crustacea, such as crabs, mollusca and insects.

   • 1886 July, Keswal [pseudonym; W. F. Sinclair], “Notes on the Waters of Western India. Part I.—‘British Deccan and Khandesh.’”, in R[obert] A[rmitage] Sterndale, E[dward] H[amilton] Aitken, editors, The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, volume I, number 3, Bombay: […] [T]he Education Society’s Press […], page 114:

     Probably frogs, crabs, mollusca, and insects form their chief diet; […]

   • 1910, Frank Leverett, Comparison of North American and European Glacial Deposits, Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger, page 302:

     The löss fauna is largely of terrestrial mollusca, as in America, […]

   • 1940, Frank F[itch] Grout, “[The Sedimentary Rocks] Limestones”, in A Handbook of Rocks for Use Without the Petrographic Microscope, 6th edition, New York, N.Y.: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., […], page 169:

     The gentle slopes are favorable to the growth of various mollusca whose hard parts contribute additional material to the growing limestones.

   • 1964, V[alentine] J[ackson] Chapman, Coastal Vegetation, Oxford, Oxon, […]: Pergamon Press; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →LCCN, pages 16 and 31:

     On salt marshes, burrowing crabs, mollusca and annelids undoubtedly assist in aeration of the soil. […] One can, for example, make a study of the algae that occur on the shells of some of the larger mollusca or on barnacles.

• Mollusca (taxonomic phylum)

• mollusca: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɔlˈlʊs.ka]
• mollusca: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [molˈlus.ka]
• molluscā: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɔlˈlʊs.kaː]
• molluscā: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [molˈlus.ka]

Feminine of molluscus (“soft”), from mollis (“soft”).

mollusca f (genitive molluscae); first declension

1. a kind of soft nut with a thin shell

First-declension noun.

mollusca

1. inflection of molluscus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

molluscā

1. ablative feminine singular of molluscus

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɔlˈlʊs.ka]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [molˈlus.ka]

mollusca

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of molluscum