Children usually call a sore or small wound a pupa.
Pupa is a notion that can be understood in different ways. It could be a skin problem, an ailment , a condition of the insects that carry out metamorphosis or a set of cosmetic products .
The pupa, therefore, can be a damage that is registered in the skin . Sometimes, the term is limited to a rash that appears in the lip area. In this case, the pupa is a name for cold sores (a virus that can cause blisters).
Pupa can also be a childish way of referring to physical pain or an injury. For example: “Jorgito made me angry because I didn't lend him my ball,” “Mom! “I fell and broke my knee.”
The pupa in metamorphosis
A state that certain insects (those known as holometabolous ) go through during the process of metamorphosis can be mentioned as pupa. This is the stage that begins when the insect stops being a larva and has not yet become an adult . Since this is a development phase, if the pupa opens prematurely, the insect dies.
While the pupal state lasts, the insect remains enclosed, does not move and does not even feed; In other words, it is a state of apparent inactivity. Little by little, it begins to develop its wings and legs and acquires the structure that it will have during adulthood.
Pupa is the state that certain insects go through during metamorphosis.
The chrysalis
The pupa, in some butterfly species, is known as a chrysalis . In this stage, the chrysalises hang from a type of silk that the caterpillar produces. Its duration in the case of these insects is a couple of weeks, but this can vary depending on the species. In fact, some extend it to wait for the environmental conditions most appropriate to their needs; This is the case of insects that spend the entire summer or winter in the pupal state, depending on their physiological characteristics.
The chrysalis has a particularly attractive appearance and, since it is usually superficial, it is the easiest example to find when thinking about the concept of pupa. The silk peduncle that the caterpillar produces to hang the chrysalis is called cremaster and is usually hidden among the leaves to be protected from potential attacks .
Other types of pupa
Various nocturnal butterflies and moths develop a different pupa, darker and buried in the ground or wrapped in a cocoon . The silkworm generates the best known of these cocoons, and to do so it uses a very long silky thread. Muscomorphic flies , for their part, produce a pupary , that is, the larva is located inside its exoskeleton during its last phase to protect itself.
Some insects hide while they are in the middle of this restructuring stage, in which their organism changes drastically. Mosquitoes, unlike other insects, do have mobility while they are in the pupa, something necessary to avoid their predators.
More uses of the concept
As a proper name, "Pupa" is the title of a horror manga (Japanese comic) by Sayaka Mogi , its writer and illustrator. The story has as its protagonists Utsutsu and Yume Hasegawa , two siblings (a young man and a girl, respectively) who live completely alone. One day, the little girl finds a strange-looking red butterfly and undergoes changes in her body, to the point of becoming a creature that needs human flesh to feed itself. Her brother will do everything possible to get her back to her normal state.
In several regions, finally, a box that contains different kinds of cosmetics , which are used for makeup , is called a pupa. Pupa is even the name of an Italian manufacturer of this type of product .