How do insects grow?

Insects develop through the process of metamorphosis, which means they change. Beetles, moths, butterflies, sawflies, wasps, ants, bees, and flies are among the insect groups that undergo full metamorphosis. All of these groupings begin their lives as eggs. The egg hatches into a larva, which eats, molts (shedding its skin), and becomes larger. The larva passes through an inactive pupa stage, such as being enveloped in a cocoon, before emerging as an adult insect, such as a butterfly or beetle, that looks nothing like the larva it previously was.

Other insect groups do not undergo full metamorphosis; instead, they undergo progressive changes as they mature. Scales, aphids, cicadas, leafhoppers, true bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, praying mantises, cockroaches, earwigs, and dragonflies are among them. Nymphs are the immature versions of these insects. The nymphs develop and change size gradually, losing skin along the way. The whole adult form emerges after a last molt.