Invertebrates and insect life cycles

Insects change as they develop. In incomplete metamorphosis the sequence is: egg → larva → adult. Insects developing this way include the cockroach, dragonfly, grasshopper, termite and bug. The cockroach likes warm, damp places, especially kitchens with food scraps; the female packs her eggs into a special capsule and hides it in cracks, and the larva moults several times (shedding its chitin skin), grows and becomes an adult. Cockroaches can spread disease by touching food, so food is kept covered and the home clean; only adults handle pest-control products. In complete metamorphosis the sequence is: egg → larva → pupa → adult. Examples are the honeybee, fly, beetle and butterfly. The queen bee lays eggs in wax cells built by the worker bees, and a larva hatches from each egg. Worker bees first feed the larva with royal jelly and then with pollen and honey. The larva turns into a pupa, and a young bee emerges from the pupa. The larva and adult often look quite different (as a caterpillar and a butterfly do).