Holometabolism

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Holometabolism, also called complete metamorphism, is a term applied to insect groups to describe the specific kind of insect development which includes four life stages - as an embryo, a larva, a pupa and an imago. For example, in the life cycle of a butterfly, the embryo grows within the egg, hatching into the larval stage caterpillar, before entering the pupal stage within its chrysalis and finally emerging as an adult butterfly imago.

The superorder Endopterygota groups holometabolic insects. Orders in the superorder are :

• Coleoptera - Beetles
• Diptera - Flies
• Hymenoptera - Ants, bees, sawflies and wasps
• Lepidoptera - Butterflies and moths
• Mecoptera - Scorpionflies
• Megaloptera - Alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies
• Miomoptera (extinct)
• Neuroptera - Lacewings, dobsonflies, etc.
• Protodiptera (extinct)
• Raphidioptera - Snakeflies
• Siphonaptera - Fleas
• Strepsiptera - Twisted-winged parasites
• Trichoptera - Caddisflies

See also

• Hemimetabolism
• Ametabolism
• Metamorphosis

External links

• Metamorphosis - A remarkable change

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Last updated on Friday February 29, 2008 at 12:00:26 PST (GMT -0800)
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