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Complete metamorphosis of insects.

Jens Rolff1,2, Paul R Johnston1,3,4, Stuart Reynolds5

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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|August 24, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Complete metamorphosis in insects, characterized by a pupal stage, evolved to decouple growth from differentiation, enabling resource exploitation. This strategy offers adaptive benefits despite increased vulnerability during the pupal phase.

Keywords:
adaptationholometabolyinsectsjuvenile hormonepupation

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Entomology

Background:

  • Most hexapod species exhibit holometabolous development, involving complete metamorphosis with a pupal stage.
  • Existing theories on metamorphosis evolution often focus on life-stage decoupling, but adaptive hypotheses for complete metamorphosis are less clear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the evolutionary pathways and adaptive advantages of complete metamorphosis in insects.
  • To propose that decoupling growth and differentiation is the primary benefit of complete metamorphosis.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on insect metamorphosis, evolution, and developmental biology.
  • Analysis of hypotheses regarding the adaptive significance of complete metamorphosis.

Main Results:

  • Complete metamorphosis primarily benefits insects by decoupling growth and differentiation, allowing exploitation of ephemeral resources and overcoming size thresholds.
  • This developmental strategy incurs costs, including increased vulnerability to external threats during the pupal stage and challenges in maintaining symbionts.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of complete metamorphosis is strongly linked to the adaptive advantage of separating growth and differentiation processes.
  • While the precise origins of the larval and pupal stages remain debated, the adult form likely preceded the larval stage in insect evolution.