wunder beta🦋 Complete Metamorphosis
Watch a caterpillar rebuild itself into a butterfly through the four amazing stages of complete metamorphosis.
What you’ll learn
- A Body That RebuildsUnderstand complete metamorphosis and its four stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult.Complete metamorphosis is a huge body change through four stages. It begins with an egg on a leaf, which hatches into a hungry larva, or caterpillar, that eats and grows. Next comes the pupa, and finally the adult, which looks completely different from the baby.
- Inside the PupaLearn what happens in the pupa and put the four stages in order.When a caterpillar is fully grown it becomes a pupa, called a chrysalis in butterflies. Inside, its body breaks down and rebuilds, growing wings, legs, and antennae. At last an adult butterfly emerges, pumps up its wings, and flies. The order is egg, larva, pupa, adult.
- Not Every InsectCompare complete and incomplete metamorphosis using the grasshopper as an example.Some insects have incomplete metamorphosis. A grasshopper hatches as a nymph that looks like a small adult and grows bigger without a pupa stage. Complete metamorphosis has four stages and a pupa, while incomplete has three stages and no pupa.
Questions this course answers
What is complete metamorphosis?
Complete metamorphosis is a huge change through four stages, where the baby looks nothing like the adult.
Which stage comes first in complete metamorphosis?
Complete metamorphosis begins with the egg, usually laid on a leaf.
What is a butterfly's pupa called?
A butterfly's pupa is called a chrysalis, where the body rebuilds itself.
What happens inside the chrysalis?
Inside the chrysalis the caterpillar's body breaks down and rebuilds into an adult with wings.
How is a grasshopper's growth different from a butterfly's?
A grasshopper has incomplete metamorphosis, so it skips the pupa stage and grows as a nymph.
Which insect goes through complete metamorphosis?
A butterfly goes through complete metamorphosis, with all four stages and a pupa.
Grounded in trusted sources
- National Geographic Kids
- Smithsonian Institution
- Britannica Kids
- Amateur Entomologists' Society
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