The rain forest covers only 6 percent of the world's tropical areas, but they are home to more than half the species of animals in the world. Some of these animals go through metamorphosis, a development process with several stages before reaching their adult form. Most invertebrates pass through metamorphosis during their life cycle, but some vertebrates, such as frogs, also go through this process before reaching adulthood.
Butterflies
Most butterfly species live in the rain forest. A mere 11,250 acres of Ecuadorian rain forest has more species (676) than all of North America. Egg, larvae or caterpillar, and pupa or chrysalis are the stages of butterfly metamorphosis, before reaching the adult form. Rain forest butterflies include the Blue Morpho, Owl butterfly, Periander Metalmark, Crimson-banded Black, Tiger Longwing and Tropical Milkweed.
Ants, Termites, Bees and Beetles
The majority of invertebrates in the rain forest are ants and termites. More than 500 ant species were found in 15 acres of Malaysian rain forest compared with the total 700 species of ants found in North America. Ants, bees and beetles go through the same metamorphosis stages as butterflies. However, the metamorphosis of termites is considered an incomplete process, because the animals do not go through the chrysalis stage. This is called hemimetabolism. The Tortoise beetle, the ants of the genus Polyergus, the South American bee and the Cubitermes termites of Africa are some examples of insects that go through metamorphosis.