Instar

Uncommon card · No. 168975

An instar ( ; from Latin īnstar 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of ecdysozoans, such as arthropods, which occurs between each moult (ecdysis) until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, changes in the number of body segments or head width. After shedding their exoskeleton (moulting), the juvenile arthropods continue in their life cycle until they either pupate or moult again. The instar period of growth is fixed; however, in some insects, like the salvinia stem-borer moth, the number of instars depends on early larval nutrition. Some arthropods can continue to moult after sexual maturity, but the stages between these subsequent moults are generally not called instars. For insects, "instar" refers to each developmental stage of larvael of holometabolous insects or nymphsal of hemimetabolous insects, but an instar can...

Read on Wikipedia · Image TheAlphaWolf, CC BY-SA 3.0