Organism Function
metamorphosis Audio
met·a·mor·pho·sis [ met-uh-mawr-fuh-sis ]
Subclass of:
Morphogenesis
Definitions related to biological metamorphosis:
  • (metamorphosis) A biological process in which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's form or structure. Examples include the change from tadpole to frog, and the change from larva to adult. An example of this is found in Drosophila melanogaster.
    Gene Ontology Dictionary
    Gene Ontology Consortium, 2021
  • (metamorphosis) Change of an organism's shape or structure, particularly in the transition between developmental stages in amphibia and various invertebrates.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
  • (metamorphosis, biological) Profound physical changes during maturation of living organisms from the immature forms to the adult forms, such as from TADPOLES to frogs; caterpillars to BUTTERFLIES.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
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