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Photo#149686
Hypermetamorphosis of Striped Blister Beetle - Epicauta vittata

Hypermetamorphosis of Striped Blister Beetle - Epicauta vittata
Hypermetamorphosis of the striped blister-beetle (1):
A-triungulin
B-caraboid stage
C-coarctate larva
D-scarabaeidoid stage
E-pupa
F-adult beetle (imago)

Full explanation (1):
The life cycle of the striped blister-beetle, Epicauta vittata, illustrates the hypermetamorphosis through which the blister-beetles pass. The female deposits her eggs in a mass of a hundred or more in a hole in the soil. They hatch into very active larvae each of which is known as a triungulin. The triungulin has long legs and runs about in search of eggs of grasshoppers. It feeds ravenously on the eggs and in about eight days molts to the second stage, called the caraboid stage, because it then resembles the larva of a carabid beetle. In another week it molts and assumes the appearance of a scarabaeid larva and is therefore called the scarabaeidoid stage of the second larva. In a short time it molts again to the ultimate stage of the second larva. In about ten days more it molts again and becomes the pseudo-pupa or the coarcate larva. This form usually hibernates and in the spring transforms to the third larval stage. In a few days this larva transforms to the pupa in an earthen cell and in five or six days the pupa transforms to the adult beetle (imago).