pharate

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φᾶρος (phâros, “mantle, cloth, web”) +‎ -ate (verb-forming suffix), suggesting the process of being about to shed the old skin.

Adjective

pharate (comparative more pharate, superlative most pharate)

1. (of an adult insect) In the final stages of conversion from pupa to adult, e.g. waiting to emerge from a cocoon, or escaping from an aquatic pupal stage to terrestrial adulthood.
   • 1968 Hinton, H. E. Spiracular Gills, Advances in Insect Physiology Vol. 5 Academic Press

     Each new instar or stage of an arthropod begins enclosed within the cuticle of the previous instar or stage. That part of it that is spent enveloped by the cuticle of the previous instar or stage is known as the pharate phase or stage, or simply as the pharate larva, pupa, or adult, as the case may be.

   • 2013, R. F. Chapman, The Insects: Structure and Function, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 435:

     Many Trichoptera swim to the surface as pharate adults, the middle legs of the pupae of these species being fringed to facilitate swimming, and the insect may continue to swim at the surface until it finds a suitable object to crawl out on.

2. (of an animal, especially an insect) In transition between major stages of development, e.g. from pupa to imago.
   • 1981Thomson, John A. Speculations on the evolution of the insect storage proteins. Evolution and Speciation. →ISBN

     Where the fat body cells are not replaced at metamorphosis, the larval storage proteins are withdrawn during pharate adult development, the protein granules become smaller and less numerous, and the fat body shrinks (e.g., in mosquitoes...)

See also

• instar

Anagrams

• haptera