incomplete metamorphosis

American  

[in-kuhm-pleet met-uh-mawr-fuh-sis] / ɪn kəmˈplit mɛt əˈmɔr fə sɪs /

noun

1. insect development, as in the grasshopper and cricket, in which the change is gradual and characterized by the absence of a pupal stage.

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Etymology

Origin of incomplete metamorphosis

First recorded in 1770–75

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

incomplete metamorphosis

Grasshoppers, cicadas, cockroaches, and yes, dragonflies, are all examples of incomplete metamorphosis, also called non-holometabolous.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

Some animals, such as grasshoppers, undergo incomplete metamorphosis, in which the young resemble the adult.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Regardless of whether a species undergoes complete or incomplete metamorphosis, the series of developmental stages of the embryo remains largely the same for most members of the animal kingdom.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

But The Encyclopædia has a suggestive sentence: "All grasshoppers are vegetable feeders and have an incomplete metamorphosis, so that their destructive powers are continuous from the moment of emergence from the egg until death."

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, July 21, 1920 by Sir Owen Seaman

When the change is gradual, without any pupa form, any stopping place as it were, the change is said to be an incomplete metamorphosis.

From The Insect Folk by Margaret Warner Morley

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