Holometabolism

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.

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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