Insect Metamorphosis

Insect Metamorphosis: From Natural History to Regulation of Development and Evolution explores the origin of metamorphosis, how it evolved, and how it is it regulated. The book discusses insect metamorphosis as a key innovation in insect evolution. With most of the present biodiversity on Earth composed of metamorphosing insects—approximately 1 million species currently described, with another 10-30 million still waiting to be discovered, the book delves into misconceptions and past treatments. In addition, the topic of integrating insect metamorphosis into the theory of evolution by natural selection as noted by Darwin in his On the Origin of Species is also discussed.

Users will find this to be a comprehensive and updated review on insect metamorphosis, covering biological, physiological and molecular facets, with an emphasis on evolutionary aspects.

"One of the highlights of this volume is the postulation of hypotheses and some potential ways to test them. The epilogue includes the author’s wish list of experiments/data to address knowledge gaps. The book provides a critical compilation of data and inspiration for future endeavors from entomologists, physiologists, and cell and molecular biologists. It is my hope that new techniques and technological advances will allow our ecological and molecular understanding of one of the most fantastic transformations in animal history."—The Quarterly Review of Biology

"Xavier Belles is well-known in the field of international metamorphosis research. Insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. The evoluition of it has also made it the most diverse group of organisms. Insect Metamorphosis can provide insect taxonomy, developmental biology, physiology and evolutionary biology research."—Acta Entomologica Sinica

"It is not a text for the whole public, but if you want to understand as deeply as possible the “miracle” of metamorphosis and that the beautiful monarch butterfly that flies thousands of miles is the same individual as the caterpillar that just think about food, this is your book."—Metode

"Insect Metamorphosis begins with a review on the interest that the metamorphosis has awakened throughout the history and scientific attempts to describe and explain it. Xavier Bellés's book is so complete and so multidimensional, that is already and will be for many years a volume essential for all those interested in obtaining a complete view of the evolution, development and function of insects through research on the evolution of their life cycles and, in particular, of metamorphosis."—Bulletin of the Spanish Society of Evolutionary Biology

"As a critical scientist, Belles is well aware that the book answers many important questions on insect metamorphosis, but many are still open, and even more are and will be raised in the coming decades, especially in emergent fields of research, such as epigenetics and comparative genomics. While certainly true, there is one point in which I disagree with Belles, and that is the last sentence of the Epilogue, where he states that “with a bit of luck, we can expect that this book will become outdated pretty soon.” I don't think so, rather, this is a book that I will still want to reread in decades to come."—J Exp Zool (Mol Dev Evol)