by E Graham, Year 12
METAMORPHOSIS 42
T
he process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form enables the lowly caterpillar to turn into a creature famed for its majesty, the butterfly, and a grey pond larva into a noble, electric ultramarine dragonfly. And with that I welcome you to the fantastical world of metamorphosis. Almost all species undergo metamorphosis. If we, humans did not metamorphosise we would all look like overgrown babies. The most famous and best example of metamorphosis is none other than that of the butterfly. A butterfly will begin its life as an egg. They then grow into larva. The larva has yet to develop reproductive organs; in order to do this they must undergo a transformation like no other. The caterpillar forms a shell to cage itself in called a pupa (a chrysalis for butterflies). In this stage of development the insect produces a hormone called the prothoracicotropic hormone; this simulates the insect to grow elaborate wings independent of the body. The pieces of the body are formed before attaching to the body like the putting together of a jigsaw puzzle; a leg made at the head of the insect can attach to the end of the insect’s body. The insect’s ability to do this enables the pupa stage to be shortened. Finally, at the end of the metamorphosis, adults emerge by breaking down the shell that has caged them for so long. They burst from their confinement with breathtaking passion and beat their colourful, scaled wings for the first time. Then they will fly daintily over the flowers of summer and drink their sweet nectar and will then be admired by a wandering human, its
