Pupae VS Chrysalis

Guy Van de Poel & A. Kalus Guy_VdP at t-online.de
Sun Oct 21 02:29:31 EDT 2001


Some more on chrysalis:

I think I remember the name was given because of the fact that several of
the nymphalid pupae have gold, sometimes silvery spots on them, with which
the greek word chrysos has something to do. I don't have a Greek dictionary,
maybe somebody else can check on this ?

Guy.

----- Original Message -----
  From: Chris J. Durden
  To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
  Sent: zondag 21 oktober 2001 7:51
  Subject: Re: Pupae VS Chrysalis


  Most Parnassius species and some satyrids spin a loose, open mesh cocoon
of silk before pupating underground. I have no problem if you want to call
this pupa a chrysalis even though it is in a vestigial cocoon (but I used
Imms rather than Borror & DeLong)..
     The way I learned it over 50 years ago -
  - ovum, larva, pupa, and imago are the proper words for the ontogenic
instars of holometabolous insects.
  - egg, caterpillar, chrysalis (with or without a cocoon), and adult are
the colloquial words for the life stages of insects with complete
metamorphosis.
  .........................Chris Durden
  Now if you want a real interesting development, look up the life cycle of
the Telephone Pole Beetle.

  At 02:22 AM 10/21/2001 +0000, you wrote:

    Hi Robert:

    Pupa is singular; pupae means plural.  Pupa is a "stage" in the
metamorphosis
    of both moths and butterflies.

    Moth's pupa can be surrounded in a cocoon, or not; butterfly
caterpillars shed
    their skin and turn into a chrysalis.  These words describe another
"stage" of
    the development before emergence as an adult.

    I do not know of any butterfly that spins a cocoon, but some do wrap a
leaf
    around themselves.  I am not an expert on this, and I am sure someone
will
    enlighten me if there are butterflies out there that do surrounds
themselves in
    something other that a leaf?  Anyone, oh esteemed lepidopterists and
    entomologists?

    Louise Dawson
    www.jjcardinal.com


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