prepupal

9.9

A stage when an insect stops feeding and becomes inactive before changing into an adult

adjective
/ˌprɛpˈjuːpəl/

Specialized

: prepupal

The insect remains inactive during the prepupal stage before it transforms into a pupa.
prepupal stage

Examples

During the prepupal phase, the caterpillar stops eating and prepares for metamorphosis.
Observation of the prepupal form reveals significant changes as the larvae prepare for their next stage.
Left: schematic highlighting prepupal thoracic horn growth.

Academic text (2005)
In this species, females not only actively express the same genes in the same body regions as their male counterparts, they actually grow a thoracic horn during the prepupal stage (Moczek and Nagy 2005).

Academic text (2005)

Synonyms

postlarval

vsprepupal

Specialized

1 8.5

Relating to the stage after a larva changes into a young animal

is a narrow inactive stage between larva and pupa

Antonyms

larval

Specialized

7 7.2

Relating to the young stage of an animal before it becomes an adult

pupal

Specialized

1 7.7

The stage when an insect changes from a larva into an adult

Surface Forms

prepupal positive

Morphology

prepupal = pupal (transparent) = pre + pupa + al

The prefix 'pre-' combines straightforwardly with 'pupal' to mean 'before the pupal stage'.

Etymology

Prepupal breaks into pre- meaning 'before' and pupa, an old Latin word meaning 'doll' (like a sleeping doll or puppet), because a pupa looks inactive and folded up. So prepupal refers to the quiet time just before an insect becomes a pupa, when it stops moving and gets ready to change.