Pupa PU'PA, n. [L. supra.] In natural history, an insect in that state
in which it resembles an infant in swaddling clothes. As some insects
in this state have a bright exterior,as if gilded, it has been called
chrysalis or aurelia, from the Gr. and L. aurum, gold; but as this
gilded appearance belongs to few insects, the term pupa is now more
generally used.
pupa noun (pluralpupaeorpupas)
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin pupa doll Date: 1815
an intermediate usually quiescent stage of a metamorphic insect (as a bee,
moth, or beetle) that occurs between the larva and the imago, is usually
enclosed in a cocoon or protective covering, and undergoes internal changes
by which larval structures are replaced by those typical of the imago •
pupaladjective
pupa
(pupae)
A pupa is an insect that is in the stage of development between a larva and a fully
grown adult. It has a protective covering and does not move. (TECHNICAL)
The pupae remain dormant in the soil until they emerge as adult moths in the winter.N-COUNT
Pupa \Pu"pa\, n.; pl. L. Pup?, E. Pupas. [L. pupa girl.
doll, puppet, fem. of pupus. Cf. Puppet.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) 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.
2. (Zo["o]l.) A genus of air-breathing land snails having an
elongated spiral shell.
Coarctate, 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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