heterometabolous

9.9

Insects whose young look like small adults and that skip the pupa stage

adjective
/ˌhɛtərəʊˈmɛtəˌbɑləs/

Specialized

: heterometabólico

Grasshoppers are heterometabolous insects, developing from nymphs that look much like the adults.

Examples

Unlike butterflies, which are holometabolous, cockroaches exhibit a heterometabolous life cycle.
The heterometabolous insects include grasshoppers and crickets.
In heterometabolous species, there is no pupal stage between the nymph and adult forms.
Are all heterometabolous species similar in their life cycles?
Grasshoppers are heterometabolous insects, developing from nymphs that look much like the adults.
In heterometabolous species, there is no pupal stage between the nymph and adult forms.
Cockroaches are an example of heterometabolous insects, as their nymphs resemble the adult stage.

Synonyms

heterometabolic

vsheterometabolous

Specialized

9.9

A type of insect development where the nymph looks like the adult and there is no pupal stage

is an alternative term form differing only in word ending not meaning

epimorphic

vsheterometabolous

Specialized

9.9

An insect that keeps the same number of body segments as it grows

focuses on nymph resembling adult and absence of a pupal stage not segment count

How Complete

holometabolous

Specialized

9.9

hemimetabolous

Specialized

9.9

heterometabolous

Specialized

9.9

ametabolous

Specialized

9.9

Surface Forms

heterometabolous positive

Morphology

heterometabolous = metabolous (semi-transparent) = hetero + metabolous

Formed by adding the productive prefix 'hetero-' to the specialized adjective 'metabolous'; structure is clear but the meaning is technical and requires domain knowledge.

Etymology

Heterometabolous comes from Greek parts hetero- meaning 'different' and metabolous meaning 'change', the same root you see in metamorphosis and metabolism. So a heterometabolous insect goes through a 'different' kind of change: the young look much like the adults and there is no pupal stage.