Instar

[sadnbtifulworld]

The strange resonant word instar describes the stage between two successive molts, for as it grows, a caterpillar, like a snake. . .splits its skin again and again, each stage an instar. It remains a caterpillar as it goes through these molts, but no longer one in the same skin.
-from "A Field Guide To Getting Lost," by Rebecca Solnit

Comments

[eatsoylentgreen]

poetic

[mhw]

Like many other entomological words, instar is Latin, meaning a sketch or resemblance.

And when an insect has finished moulting and reached its final adult form, it is referred to as an imago, an equally lovely word, but which strangely enough also means a resemblance or likeness.