METAMORPHOSIS

IN INSECTS
•Most insects undergo marked change in
body form during postembryonic
development. Depending on the degree
of specialization of the immature stages,
several types of metamorphosis are
recognized.
•There are however intermediate types
occurring in several groups, thus, this
classification becomes arbitrary.
1. Ametamorphosis (ametabolous)

the insect continuous molting throughout adult life and it’s

wingless. No special name is given to the young or immature
stages. Ex. Silverfish
2. Gradual metamorphosis
(Paurometabolous)

the immature stages of insect with this type are called nymphs.
The adults are mostly winged but some have lost them secondarily
(e.g. sedentary plant feeders and animal parasites).
 The nymphs share the same habitats with the adults; they have
the same type of mouth parts and feed on the same food. The
wings developed as external wing pads which increase in size in
successive instar but are not functional until the adult stage.
3. Incomplete metamorphosis
(Hemimetabolous)

a special type of gradual metamorphosis where the young stages

are aquatic while the adults are aerial. The immature stages are called
naiads which have external wing pads but have special respiratory
organ (gills) for their aquatic existence.
The foods is different in the naiads and adults. Ex. Damselfly
naiads which have predominant apical abdominal gills and
dragonfly naiads which have the rectum modified for respiration.
In both types, labial mark is present on the underside of the head
used in capturing prey.
4. Complete or Holometabolous

the immature and adult stages of insect that undergo complete

metamorphosis are usually quite different in form and often live in
different habitats and have different habits. The insect develop on
immature stage is called larva which never develop external wing
pads. The larva is worm-like.
 The different larval instar are usually similar in form but differ in
size. The wings when present in the adults develops internally during
the larval stage or instar. The larvae do not have compound eyes.
They may not possess thoracic legs. They may bear sometimes
abdominal appendages (prolegs). Larvae generally have chewing
mouthparts. Following the larval stage is the quiescent pupa.
The pupa has external wings, legs, and mouthparts. The pupa
may be housed in a protective cocoon of silk or various materials
or it may be formed with in the hardened cuticula of the
preceding larval instar which develops into a puparium. The final
molt occurs at the end of the pupal stage at the last stage is adult.
 NYMPHS
1. Nymph has wing pads developing outside of the body wall.
2. The nymph generally has a shape and body construction similar to
that of the adult.
3. Each successive instar usually looks more like the adult from the
one that preceded it.
4. Nymphs had very few organs that are not also possessed by the
adult.
5. Nymphs have compounds eyes while its parents are without
compound eyes.
6. It always has the same mouth type with the adult.
7. It generally occupies the same habitat, takes the same kind of
food and leads the same manner of life as the adult.
8. The nymphal period generally passes over into the adult period
with out any prolonged in active or pupal stage intervening.
 LARVAE
1. Develops its rudimentary wings during this stage inside the body
wall of the thorax.
2. It generally has more or less worm-like form of body often
strikingly different from that of the adult.
3. The later instars are no more like the adult.
4. The larva often has provisional structures or organs, of use only in
this stage, which are lost or supplanted before the adult.
5. The larva never has the functional compound eyes, though it may
have simple eyes or ocelli.
6. It may occupy the same habitat as the adult but very often lives in
totally different sort of situation.
7. The larva commonly has a different type of mouth parts from the
adult and often takes a different kind of foods.

8. The larva is always separated from the adult by a pupal stage

during which the insect takes no food and is unusually quiescent.
 TYPES OF LARVAE
The larvae of various insects undergoing
complete metamorphosis vary considerably
in form:

1. Eruciform – caterpillar like, body

cylindrical, head well-developed but with
very short antennae , with thoracic legs
and abdominal prolegs (Lepidoptera,
Mecoptera, and some Hymenoptera)
2. Scarabaeiform – grublike, usually curved; head well-developed, with
thoracic legs but without abdominal prolegs; inactive and sluggish
(Coleoptera, Scarabaedae)
3. Campodiform – resembling bristle-like in the genus campodea. Body
elongate and somewhat flattened, cerci and antennae are well-
developed; thoracic legs are well-developed , larva usually active
(Neuroptera, Trichoptera, and Coleoptera)
4. Vermiform – (maggotlike) body elongate, wormlike, legless, with
or without well-developed head. (Diptera, Siphonaptera,
Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera).
5. Elateriform – wirewormlike; body elongate, cylindrical and hard
shelled; legs short, and body bristles reduced (Coleoptera,
Elateridae).
 TYPES OF PUPAE

There are three types of pupae of

insects with complete metamorphosis,
namely:

 Obtect – the appendages are more or

less glued to the body (Lepidotera and
Diptera).
 Exarate – appendages free and not glued or less glued to the body ( in
most insects except Diptera and Lepidoptera).

 Coarctate – essentially like an exarate pupa but remaining covered by

hardened exuviae of the next to the last larval instar called a
puparium (Diptera).
 The exuviae in clued all the external features of the animal such as
bristles, mouthparts, etc. it involves also the cuticular linings of the
trachea, foregut and hindgut and the larval cells are sloughed into the
body cavity, after each molt the insect that comes out is slightly different
in form.
 The form of the insect between molt is called an instar while the
period of time between molt is called a stadium.