Ecdysis is the molting of the cuticula in arthropods and related groups (Ecdysozoa). Since the cuticula of these animals is also the skeletal support (the exoskeleton) of the body and is inelastic, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed. The old, empty exoskeleton is called an exuvia (or "exuvium").After molting, an arthropod is described as teneral; it is "fresh", pale and soft-bodied. Within one or two hours, the cuticle hardens and darkens following a tanning process similar to that of the tanning of leather. It is during this short phase that the animal grows, since growth is otherwise constrained by the rigidity of the exoskeleton.
Ecdysis may also enable damaged tissue and missing limbs to be regenerated or substantially re-formed, although this may only be complete over a series of molts, the stump being a little larger with each molt until it is of normal, or near normal size again.
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