Pupae vs. Chrysalis
Kenelm Philip
fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu
Mon Oct 22 01:21:49 EDT 2001
I agree about sawflies and scorpionflies having caterpillars. What
I don't agree on is _insects_ in general having caterpillars. Maggots and
grubs are not caterpillars in my scheme of things... Larvae will do
for all of them, of course. 'Boring and Too Long' has a definition of
caterpillar that applies to sawflies and scorpionflies--but the authors
showed no sign of extending it to maggots!
And yes, butterflies have pupae (even though they may also be
called chrysalids).
I had never run across 'instar' applied to the egg stage, or to
the pupa or adult of a holometabolous insect. Considering its meaning in
Latin, I suppose it could be so used--but it's handy to have a special
term for _larval_ stages.
The problem with running the use of 'chrysalid' into the ground is
that this is really more of a common-name type of thing, and may not fit
the intricacies of taxonomy all that well. It is clear that some butter-
flies have chrysalids. I would hestitate to claim that _all_ butterflies
have them, especially when the definition of 'butterfly' is being expanded.
But it seems clear enough to me that moths (or at least _most_ moths) do
not have chrysalids--if by that you mean naked pupae (not to mention naked
pupae with gold markings). And it also seems clear that non-lepidopterous
insects don't have chrysalids, since the term was originally defined to
apply to butterflies as far as I can tell.
My original teachers about lepidoptera were Remington and Clench
(plus a lot of books). For what that's worth...
Ken
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