Editing Metamorphosis (section)

=== Recent research ===

According to research from 2008, adult ''[[Manduca sexta]]'' is able to retain behavior learned as a [[caterpillar]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Douglas J. Blackiston, Elena Silva Casey & Martha R. Weiss |year=2008 |title=Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar? |journal=[[PLoS ONE]] |volume=3 |issue=3 |page=e1736 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0001736 |doi-access=free |pmc=2248710 |pmid=18320055 |bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.1736B }}</ref> Another caterpillar, [[Utetheisa ornatrix|the ornate moth caterpillar]], is able to carry toxins that it acquires from its diet through metamorphosis and into adulthood, where the toxins still serve for protection against predators.<ref>{{cite book|last=Conner|first=W.E.|title=Tiger Moths and Woolly Bears—behaviour, ecology, and evolution of the Arctiidae|year=2009|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|pages=1–10}}</ref>

Many observations published in 2002, and supported in 2013 indicate that [[programmed cell death]] plays a considerable role during physiological processes of multicellular organisms, particularly during [[embryogenesis]], and metamorphosis.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Gyunghee|last2=Sehgal|first2=Ritika|last3=Wang|first3=Zixing|last4=Nair|first4=Sudershana|last5=Kikuno|first5=Keiko|last6=Chen|first6=Chun-Hong|last7=Hay|first7=Bruce|last8=Park|first8=Jae H.|date=2013-03-15|title=Essential role of grim-led programmed cell death for the establishment of corazonin-producing peptidergic nervous system during embryogenesis and metamorphosis in Drosophila melanogaster|journal=Biology Open|volume=2|issue=3|pages=283–294|doi=10.1242/bio.20133384|issn=2046-6390|pmc=3603410|pmid=23519152}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zakeri|first1=Zahra|last2=Lockshin|first2=Richard A.|date=2002-07-01|title=Cell death during development|journal=Journal of Immunological Methods|volume=265|issue=1–2|pages=3–20|issn=0022-1759|pmid=12072175|doi=10.1016/s0022-1759(02)00067-4}}</ref> Additional research in 2019 found that both [[autophagy]] and [[apoptosis]], the two ways programmed cell death occur, are processes undergone during insect metamorphosis. <ref name="Rolff Johnston Reynolds p=20190063">{{cite journal | last1=Rolff | first1=Jens | last2=Johnston | first2=Paul R. | last3=Reynolds | first3=Stuart | title=Complete metamorphosis of insects | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | publisher=The Royal Society | volume=374 | issue=1783 | date=2019-08-26 | issn=0962-8436 | doi=10.1098/rstb.2019.0063 | page=20190063| pmid=31438816 | pmc=6711294 }}</ref>

Below is the sequence of steps in the metamorphosis of the butterfly (illustrated):<br/>
[[File:Metamorphosis of butterfly (PSF).png|left|thumb|Metamorphosis of butterfly (PSF)]]

1 – The larva of a butterfly <br/>
2 – The pupa is now spewing the thread to form chrysalis <br/>
3 – The chrysalis is fully formed <br/>
4 – Adult butterfly coming out of the chrysalis
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<gallery class="center" caption="Sequence illustrating complete metamorphosis in the cabbage white butterfly, ''[[Pieris rapae]]''">
File:ChristianBauer Pieris rapae caterpiller.jpg|[[larva]]
File:ChristianBauer Pieris rapae caterpiller2.jpg|[[pupa]]
File:ChristianBauer Pieris rapae cocoon.jpg|pupa ready for eclosion
File:ChristianBauer Pieris rapae youngadult.jpg|[[adult]]
</gallery>