This works throughout the stages of an insect's life: from egg to larva to pupa to adult. It works with look-alike species.

Insects may have complete or incomplete (simple) metamorphosis. The life cycle of insects with complete metamorphosis includes egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Eggs hatch to give rise to a worm-like larva ...

Ant pupae—which are equivalent to the chrysalis stage of the butterfly—produce a milklike substance derived from molting fluid that is eaten by both adult ants and larvae. Typically, when insects molt ...

The larva of an insect makes a hormone which keeps it from changing into a pupa until it has reached its full growth. Recent experiments with this substance have produced both dwarf and giant ...

Butterflies and caterpillars frequently host parasitoids, insects that attack and destroy their hosts, sometimes eating them alive. These are usually wasps, laying their own eggs inside an egg, ...