Metamorphosis, the transformation of the larva into an adult, is a more or less complicated process depending on the degree of difference between the two forms. The transformation may be gradual, extend over a long period, and involve a number of intermediate stages; alternatively, the transformation may be achieved in one step. In the latter case, especially if the difference between the larva and adult is great, large parts of the body of the larva, including all the specifically larval organs, disintegrate (necrobiotic metamorphosis). At the same time, organs of the adult are built up, sometimes from reserve groups of cells that remain undifferentiated or nonfunctional in the larva. A good illustration of the distinction between gradual and abrupt metamorphosis occurs among the insects. In more primitive insects, such as cockroaches and grasshoppers, metamorphosis is gradual. The larva, often referred to as a nymph, has more or less the same organization as the adult, or imago; it feeds in a similar way but differs from the adults in lacking wings and in having incomplete sex organs. The wings appear in later stages of larval life; they are small at first but increase with each molt, and they attain full size and functional capacity at the last (imaginal) one. The larva of other insects, such as beetles, butterflies, and wasps, is a grub or caterpillar, a wormlike creature not even remotely resembling the adult. The difference in organization is so profound that the transformation cannot be achieved gradually, and an intermediate resting, or pupal, stage is interposed between the larva and imago. The pupa neither feeds nor moves, as the larval organs inside are destroyed and replaced with organs of the adult, including wings and sex organs. Eventually, when formation of the adult organs is complete, the pupal skin is cast off, and the adult emerges. The destruction of the larval parts may be far reaching and include even the skin and most of the alimentary canal. The tissues of the adult are formed from groups of reserve cells that were present all along in the larva as imaginal disks.

Necrobiotic metamorphosis is observed in the tunicate larva, in which the tail, including notochord, nerve cord, and muscles, and most of the brain, including eye and statocyst, are destroyed at the same time that the large pharyngeal cavity of the adult develops. A tadpole metamorphosing into an adult frog loses its tail—the cells of which are destroyed and devoured by phagocytic cells—its gills, and its larval mouthparts; concurrently the legs of the adult frog develop progressively, the structure of the mouth and alimentary canal change, and the skin acquires a bony (keratinized) layer and a system of subcutaneous glands.

The complicated changes taking place during metamorphosis, especially in the case of necrobiotic metamorphosis, must be performed in a coordinated way. So that no changes are made prematurely and no organ systems are left behind in the general transformation, some common signal for the change must be provided. For both insect and amphibian metamorphoses, which have been the most extensively studied, the signal is a hormonal one, sent in the blood to all the cells and tissues of the body.

Metamorphosis in an insect is complicated by the fact that the rigid cuticle covering its body is very restrictive; new features can appear only after a molt, when the old cuticle is replaced by a newly formed one. Molting in insects is caused by the action of two hormones. In the brain of insects, several groups of neurosecretory cells produce the first hormone. This brain hormone does not itself affect molting but stimulates the prothoracic gland, a loose mass of secretory cells situated in the thorax in close association with tracheal tubes. In response to the stimulation by the brain hormone, the prothoracic gland releases into the blood a second hormone, the molting hormone, or ecdysone. Under the influence of ecdysone, the tissues of the body produce a new cuticle under the old one, after which the old cuticle is shed (the actual molting). The new cuticle embodies any new developmental features that were scheduled to appear. The kind of feature that emerges after a molt is controlled by a third organ of internal secretion, the corpus allatum, secretory tissue situated posterior to the brain, near or around the dorsal aorta and usually appearing as a pair of separate or fused organs. The corpora allata emit the juvenile hormone, which, as long as it circulates in the blood, acts to perpetuate the larval form. As the larva approaches the end of its development, however, the corpora allata stop producing juvenile hormone or reduce its quantity; whereupon, the larva, at the next molt, metamorphoses into an adult. Withdrawal of the juvenile hormone is the immediate cause of metamorphosis, in conjunction with the brain hormone and ecdysone, which are responsible for the shedding of the larval cuticle and for the production of the new cuticle embodying the features of the imago. Metamorphosis through the stage of the pupa is effected by diminishing levels of juvenile hormone, which determine first the transformation of the larva into a pupa and, with further reduction of the juvenile-hormone level, the final step of transformation of the pupa into the adult.

The metamorphosis of a tadpole into a frog also depends upon two hormones: one initiating the process and the other directly influencing the tissues involved in the change. The first hormone is the thyrotropic hormone, produced by the hypophysis. It has no immediate effect on the tissues of the body but activates the thyroid gland to produce several substances, the most important of which is thyroxine. Thyroxine and other iodine-containing compounds circulate in the blood and cause changes that, in their entirety, constitute the process of metamorphosis. It is remarkable that different tissues react in different ways to the presence of thyroxine. The muscles of the tadpole’s tail degenerate, whereas the muscles of the trunk and legs are not affected; in fact, the growth and development of limbs are stimulated as a part of metamorphosis. The effect of the hormone depends on the nature of the reacting cells and tissues—i.e., on their competence—just as the embryonic inductor in the earlier stages of development influences only cells with the competence for a particular kind of reaction.