PUPA • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Pupa

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noun

Pupa n. (pl. L. pupae, E. pupas)

(Zool.) Any insect in that stage of its metamorphosis which usually immediately precedes the adult, or imago, stage. Note: Among insects belonging to the higher orders, as the Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, the pupa is inactive and takes no food; in the lower orders it is active and takes food, and differs little from the imago except in the rudimentary state of the sexual organs, and of the wings in those that have wings when adult. The term pupa is sometimes applied to other invertebrates in analogous stages of development.

(Zool.) A genus of air-breathing land snails having an elongated spiral shell.

Coarctate pupa, or Obtected pupa, a pupa which is incased in the dried-up skin of the larva, as in many Diptera.

Masked pupa, a pupa whose limbs are bound down and partly concealed by a chitinous covering, as in Lepidoptera.

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Etymology of 'Pupa'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pupa" Quotes from Famous Books

... organisms living in the water. Before passing into the pupal stage, the larva partially closes the orifice of the tube with silk or pieces of stone loosely spun together and pervious to water. Through this temporary protection the active pupa, which closely resembles the mature insect, subsequently bites a way by means of its strong mandibles, and rising to the surface of the water casts the pupal integument ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 - "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" • Various

... is summarised at pages 427, 428. Walsh shows that a complete gradation exists between species which are absolutely unaffected by change of food and cases where "difference of food is accompanied by marked and constant differences, either colorational, or structural, or both, in the larva, pupa and imago states."), most of which was new to me. I have since received your paper on willow-galls; this has been very opportune, as I wanted to learn a little about galls. There was much in this paper which has interested me extremely, on gradations, ...

— More Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume I (of II) • Charles Darwin

... better remedy is clean cultivation. Experiments have shown that as high as 76.75 per cent. of the pupae may be destroyed by means of thorough cultivation. The mere breaking of the pupal cell, leaving the earth in contact with the body of the pupa, is fatal to many. Others are killed by the crushing action of the earth as it is stirred. Others are exposed to the elements and subject to the attacks of their enemies, such as ants and birds. Sunlight is quickly fatal to them, and exposure to the air on a warm day ...

— Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 • Various

Words linked to "Pupa" : chrysalis, pupal, insect