Prometabolism

Prometabolism is a form of metamorphosis in insects in which the so-called subimago appears as an animal capable of flight, but not capable of reproduction.

An example is the order of the mayflies (Ephemeroptera). They often live as larvae in water for several years . Then the moulting occurs synchronously and the sub-images fly off positively phototactically , only to moult to the sexually mature imago after several minutes or hours .