Metamorphosis
Illustration for Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Read full paper here.
Metamorphosis manifests in a variety of ways across animal taxa. Critical axes of variation include dimensionality and degree of change, its duration, its timing within the organism’s life history, and whether the metamorph is sessile or mobile. Five taxa illustrated here represent a range of animal metamorphoses from wholesale morphological and physiological reorganization to more modest ontogenetic shifts, including the Rock Crab (Cancer irroratus), the Winter Flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), the Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus), the Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta) and the Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)
Illustration for Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Read full paper here.
Metamorphosis manifests in a variety of ways across animal taxa. Critical axes of variation include dimensionality and degree of change, its duration, its timing within the organism’s life history, and whether the metamorph is sessile or mobile. Five taxa illustrated here represent a range of animal metamorphoses from wholesale morphological and physiological reorganization to more modest ontogenetic shifts, including the Rock Crab (Cancer irroratus), the Winter Flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), the Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus), the Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta) and the Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)