pharate

adjective

1. In the final stages of conversion from pupa to adult, e.g. waiting to emerge from a cocoon, or escaping from an aquatic pupal stage to terrestrial adulthood.

   Each new instar or stage of an arthropod begins enclosed within the cuticle of the previous instar or stage. That part of it that is spent enveloped by the cuticle of the previous instar or stage is known as the pharate phase or stage, or simply as the pharate larva, pupa, or adult, as the case may be.

   1968 Hinton, H. E. Spiracular Gills, Advances in Insect Physiology Vol. 5 Academic Press

2. In transition between major stages of development, e.g. from pupa to imago.

   Where the fat body cells are not replaced at metamorphosis, the larval storage proteins are withdrawn during pharate adult development, the protein granules become smaller and less numerous, and the fat body shrinks (e.g., in mosquitoes...)

   1981Thomson, John A. Speculations on the evolution of the insect storage proteins. Evolution and Speciation. →ISBN

Where it comes from

From Ancient Greek φᾶρος (phâros, “mantle, cloth, web”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), suggesting the process of being about to shed the old skin.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry pharate (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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