Metamorphosis: Complete and Incomplete
≈ 18 minMetamorphosis means a big change in body shape during an animal's life. Many insects go through it, and there are two kinds.
Complete metamorphosis — four stages. The young looks nothing like the adult. A butterfly's cycle is: egg → larva (caterpillar) → pupa (inside a chrysalis) → adult butterfly. Bees and flies work the same way.
Incomplete metamorphosis — three stages. The young, called a nymph, already looks like a small adult, usually without wings. A grasshopper's cycle is: egg → nymph → adult. The nymph just grows bigger and grows wings; there is no pupa stage.
What does the word metamorphosis mean?
How many stages are there in a butterfly's complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult)?
In a butterfly's life cycle, the resting stage inside a chrysalis, between the caterpillar and the adult, is called the ______.
A grasshopper hatches as a nymph that already looks like a small, wingless adult. What kind of metamorphosis is this?