Direct development
Direct development is an idea in biology. An animal does direct development if the baby animal looks like a small adult and not a larva.[1] A frog that hatches out of its egg as a small frog has direct development. A frog that hatches out of its egg as a tadpole does not. An insect that hatches out of its egg as a small adult does direct development. An insect that hatches out of its egg as a caterpillar or grub does not.
Direct development is the opposite of complete metamorphosis. An animal does complete metamorphosis if it becomes a non-moving thing, for example a pupa in a cocoon, after being a larva but before being an adult.[2]
Examples[change | change source]
- Most frogs in the genus Callulina hatch out of their eggs as small frogs. They are never tadpoles.
- Springtails and mayflies are never larva. They are called ametabolous insects.[3]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Fang Yan; Xiaolong Liu; Yinpeng Zhang; Zhiyong Yuan (May 28, 2021). "Direct development of the bush frog Raorchestes longchuanensis (Yang and Li 1978) under laborary conditions in Southern China". Journal of Natural History (Abstract). 55 (1–2): 123–132. doi:10.1080/00222933.2021.1895349. S2CID 236202923. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ↑ Jens Rolff; Paul R. Johnston; Stuart Reynolds (August 26, 2019). "Complete metamorphosis of insects". Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. (full text). 374 (1783). doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0063. PMC 6711294. PMID 31438816.
- ↑ Scott F. Gilbert (2000). "Metamorphosis: The Hormonal Reactivation of Development". Developmental Biology (6 ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
