A butterfly is a flying insect known for its brightly colored wings and distinctive flight patterns. Belonging to the order Lepidoptera, butterflies are characterized by their slender bodies, large ...

Researchers have studied gene expression dynamics during metamorphosis in two species of flies. Published in the Genome Biology and Evolution, the study aims to identify patterns of changes in ...

Other insects, like dragonflies, go through incomplete metamorphosis, which means they skip the pupa stage. “All of the changes are driven by hormones,” said Oberhauser.

On warm summer nights, green lacewings flutter around bright lanterns in backyards and at campsites. The insects, with their veil-like wings, are easily distracted from their natural preoccupation ...

It is estimated that only about 3% of insects are pests. Metamorphosis refers to the insect’s life cycle, and how it changes and grows into an adult. Insects may have complete or incomplete (simple) ...

Beetles undergo complete metamorphosis, i.e., overall bodily reorganization over the course of several developmental stages: egg to larva, to pupa, to the emergence of an adult from that pupal stage.

Complete metamorphosis transforms caterpillars into butterflies, reshaping not only the bodies of the insects but their behaviors and identities. New work reveals in detail for the first time how ...

Complete metamorphosis seems to have arisen in insects only around 350 million years ago, before the dinosaurs. Most researchers now believe that metamorphosis evolved to lessen the competition for ...

After shedding their final instar, insects that experience complete metamorphosis become pupae. In some cases, pupae enclose themselves inside a hard cocoon, or chrysalis, which butterflies and ...

Cicadas can take 17 years to metamorphose into adulthood, spending most of that time underground. Pupation After shedding their final instar, insects that experience complete metamorphosis become ...