Abstract
This chapter describes the cell lineages in the development and evolution of the holometabolous insect larvae. The study of cell lineage within and between closely related species has been a useful tool for understanding how individuals develop and ontogenies evolve. Insect embryos represent an extreme example of the dissociation of cell lineage from cell patterning. Other than late patterning in the nervous system, tissues within the insect embryo are not generated with cell lineages reproducible from individual to individual. Early insect development originates with a series of nuclear divisions that occur in the absence of cell membranes. These divisions create a bag of undifferentiated nuclei, known as a syncytium. In winged (or pterygote) insects, larvae possess the full complement of body segments but do not exhibit the complete adult morphology. Winged insects can be grouped into two classes according to the type of metamorphosis they undergo. The first class is the hemimetabolous or exopterygote insects (external wings), where immatures emerge with the basic adult body plan but have incompletely developed wings and genitalia. The second class of insects is the holometabolous or endopterygote (internal wings) insects, where larvae are distinctly different from adults and the transformation into the adult includes a pupal stage.
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