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Taxonomy
Before we continue with the Metamorphosis, first a small part about Taxonomy. What is a lepidopteran actually and where does it stand in the animal kingdom.
Lepidopterans belong to the group of insects.
The insect group represents more than one million different insect species, not all species are described. With approximately 160.000 different described species, lepidopterans give a reasonable contribution to this group.
If we would look at the taxonomic classification, it looks like this for lepidopterans. Intermediate groups are deliberately left out because currently, no definitive standard has been accepted.
- Metazoa of Animalia (Animal kingdom)
- Arthropoda Arthropoda (Arthropods) - Animals with an external skeleton of chitin, such as insects, spiders, scorpions, crabs and lobsters.
- Insecta (Insects) - Insecta means cut, due to the often clear subdivision of head, chest and abdomen.
- Endopterygota (complete metamorphosis) - Metamorphosis consists of ovum (egg), larva, pupa, imago (adult).
- Lepidoptera (scaled-wings) - These are the animals which this site is all about, butterflies and moths.
- A lepidopteran is an insect with complete metamorphosis. This means that during the development to adult, they will undergo four different stages which are:
- egg (ovum)
- caterpillar (larva)
- christalis (pupa)
- Imago (lepidopteran = butterfly of moth)