The prepupa is a stage in the life cycle of certain insects, following the larva or nymph and preceding the pupa. It occurs in both holometabolous and hemimetabolous insects.
The prepupa is a stage in the life cycle of certain insects, following the larva or nymph and preceding the pupa. It occurs in both holometabolous and hemimetabolous insects.
Lady beetles have a prepupa stage. In Coleomegilla maculata , this lasts up to 24 hours. A larva enters the stage by attaching its rear abdominal segments to a leaf, and its body becomes stiff and curved. It does not move unless provoked (e.g. by a predator attacking it), in which case it moves to escape the threat. [1]
In the stag beetle Cyclommatus metallifer , the prepupa involves four distinct stages. The first lasts 2 days and involves a beetle larva constructing its pupal cell. The second lasts 3-4 days and involves the prepupa purging the contents of its gut, also changing shape in the process. The third stage, in which the prepupa undergoes proliferation of adult tissues, lasts 3-5 days. The fourth and final stage is the shortest at just a few hours, in which the prepupa finishes purging its gut contents and completing its transformation into a pupa. [2]
In black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens ), the prepupa differs from the larva by being darker and having reduced mouthparts. It moves around with a sinusoidal movement of the body, whereas the larva relies more heavily on pinning the substrate with its head. It usually responds to disturbance by ceasing movement (tonic immobility), a response rarely done by larvae. Prepupae do not feed and migrate towards shelters where they then pupate. [3]
Flies of superfamily Hippoboscoidea are unusual in that a larva develops inside its mother and is born in the prepupa stage, whereupon it immediately progresses to the pupa stage. [4]
In males of most scale insects and mealybugs (Coccoidea), there are two nymphal instars, followed by a prepupal instar and a pupal instar, and finally the adult stage. The prepupa and pupa are usually protected by some kind of covering secreted by the previous stage. The prepupa of some of the primitive archaeococcoids is similar to the nymph aside from lacking functional mouthparts and sometimes having reduced legs. Other archaeococcoids have prepupae with developing wing pads and legs. In the more derived neococcoids, there are signs of legs and sometimes developing wing pads. Some mealybugs have prepupae (and pupae) capable of movement. [5]
Various Hymenoptera overwinter in the prepupa stage. These typically become prepupa in mid- or late summer, then go into diapause for autumn and winter, resuming development in spring or early summer. [6]
In honeybees, a larva about to become a prepupa first orients its anterior end towards the cap of its cell. It spins a cocoon around itself and progresses to the prepupa stage. The honeybee prepupa is straightened and motionless in its cell, during which its cuticle progressively loosens. Finally, it undergoes ecdysis to become a pupa. [7]
Sawfly prepupae are often entirely white or bone-coloured. The mandibles are shaped differently to larval mandibles. As with prepupae of other groups, they stop feeding and become sluggish. [8]
The prepupa stage is rare in Lepidoptera, with most species passing directly from the feeding larva stage to the pupa stage. An exception to this is Calindoea trifascialis . [9] Other exceptions include species of Papilio . [10] [11]
Alderflies and dobsonflies (Megaloptera) are aquatic as larvae, but their prepupae leave the water to find pupation sites. A larva may travel 10 m or more away from water. It finds a rock, log or human debris and digs a shallow chamber underneath. [12]
Thrips have two feeding instars (called larvae or nymphs), followed by the nonfeeding prepupa and pupa. [13] [14] The prepupa and pupa often occur in soil or leaf litter, or in plant crevices or galls. [13] [14]
Black soldier flies have various uses, being able to consume organic wastes and then be used as food and feed, or in production of bioplastics. Their prepupae can be "self-harvested" by exploiting their migration instinct to make them go into a collection area. [3]
Prepupae, along with pupae, of eri silkworm ( Samia ricini ) are consumed as food in India. [15]
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages thereof being egg, larva, pupa, and imago. The processes of entering and completing the pupal stage are controlled by the insect's hormones, especially juvenile hormone, prothoracicotropic hormone, and ecdysone. The act of becoming a pupa is called pupation, and the act of emerging from the pupal case is called eclosion or emergence.
Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species.
The huhu beetle is a longhorn beetle endemic to New Zealand. It is the heaviest beetle found in New Zealand.
Dobsonflies are a subfamily of insects, Corydalinae, part of the Megalopteran family Corydalidae. The larvae are aquatic, living in streams, and the adults are often found along streams as well. The nine genera of dobsonflies are distributed in the Americas, Asia, and South Africa.
Holometabolism, also called complete metamorphosis, is a form of insect development which includes four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and imago. Holometabolism is a synapomorphic trait of all insects in the superorder Holometabola. Immature stages of holometabolous insects are very different from the mature stage. In some species the holometabolous life cycle prevents larvae from competing with adults because they inhabit different ecological niches. The morphology and behavior of each stage are adapted for different activities. For example, larval traits maximize feeding, growth, and development, while adult traits enable dispersal, mating, and egg laying. Some species of holometabolous insects protect and feed their offspring. Other insect developmental strategies include ametabolism and hemimetabolism.
Hermetia illucens, the black soldier fly, is a common and widespread fly of the family Stratiomyidae. Since the late 20th century, H. illucens has increasingly been gaining attention because of its usefulness for recycling organic waste and generating animal feed.
Insect mandibles are a pair of appendages near the insect's mouth, and the most anterior of the three pairs of oral appendages. Their function is typically to grasp, crush, or cut the insect's food, or to defend against predators or rivals. Insect mandibles, which appear to be evolutionarily derived from legs, move in the horizontal plane unlike those of vertebrates, which appear to be derived from gill arches and move vertically.
Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall known as the rose bedeguar gall, bedeguar gall wasp, Robin's pincushion, mossy rose gall, or simply moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal bud, mostly on field rose or dog rose shrubs. The female wasp lays up to 60 eggs within each leaf bud using her ovipositor. The grubs develop within the gall, and the wasps emerge in spring; the wasp is parthenogenetic with fewer than one percent being males.
Papilio anactus, the dainty swallowtail, dingy swallowtail or small citrus butterfly is a medium-sized butterfly from the family Papilionidae, that is endemic to Australia.
Calliphora latifrons is a species of blue bottle fly.
Eriococcidae is a family of scale insects in the order Hemiptera. They are commonly known as felt scales or eriococcids. As of 2023, there are 109 genera and 681 species. Each species is usually specific to a different plant host, or closely related group of hosts.
Lebia grandis is a ground beetle in the family Carabidae found in North America. It is a specialist predator on the eggs and larvae of Colorado potato beetles, and its larvae are obligate parasitoids of Colorado potato beetle pupae.
Cyclommatus is a genus of the family Lucanidae, also known as the stag beetle. The majority of the species from the genus Cyclommatus are located in Southeast Asia, though some species are found in China and Taiwan as well. The genus Cyclommatus also consists of three subgenera: Cyclommatus, Cyclommatinus and Cyclommatellus. Each subgenera contains 80, 24 and 3 species respectively. In total, the genus Cyclommatus consists of a total of 134 species, though more are still being discovered to this day.
Loxostege Sticticalis is a species of moth in the family Crambidae. It is found in Russia.
Lymantria dispar dispar, commonly known as the gypsy moth, European gypsy moth, LDD moth, or North American gypsy moth or spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. It has a native range that extends over Europe and parts of Africa, and is an invasive species in North America.
Papilio rumiko is a species of swallowtail butterfly. It is found from the south-western United States, through Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica to Panama. The northernmost record is north-eastern Colorado.
Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis is a species of thrips in the family Thripidae. It is most commonly known as the greenhouse thrips, the glasshouse thrip or black tea thrips. This species of thrips was first described in 1833 by Bouché in Berlin, Germany. H. haemorrhoidalis also has many synonyms depending on where they were described from such as: H. adonidum Haliday, H. semiaureus Girault, H. abdominalis Reuter, H. angustior Priesner, H. ceylonicus Schultz, Dinurothrips rufiventris Girault. In New Zealand, H. haemorrhoidalis is one of the four species belonging to the subfamily Panchaetothripinae.
Echinothrips americanus is a species of thrips in the family Thripidae. It is found in North America, Europe, and Asia. E. americanus was first described in 1913 by entomologist A.C. Morgan in Quincy, Florida, where he found the insect on a Veratrum viride plant. Suggested common names include Poinsettia thrips and Impatiens thrips. Since their spread throughout Europe as early as 1995, and subsequently China, E. americanus has been called an "upcoming pest."
Afidenta misera, is a species of lady beetle widespread in the Oriental region.
Planococcus ficus, commonly known as the vine mealybug, is a species of mealybug, belonging to the family Pseudococcidae, native to tropical and subtropical regions. The vine mealybug is found in Europe, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East. The vine mealybug is invasive to weedy plants in many different regions of the world.