Earlier column from SD Staff Doug Yanega
He doesn’t actually say that the complete larva liquefies, except for the imaginal discs, but seems to imply it.
Another bug expert explains it, and it seems not quite so dramatic. And he starts out by saying that complete liquification was the prevailing thought for many years.
First, thanks for the video. It’s very good. The video of the various steps is particularly enlightening. Words are good, but seeing the steps is cool.
Second, complete liquification is a bit overstated, but breaking down the unnecessary structures and digesting them is pretty close. The caterpillar’s digestive tract, legs, and much of the musculature is digested. That’s pretty much liquification.
The imaginal disks form new body structures. It’s just some of that transformation begins before the crysalis is formed.
It is pretty cool that the crysalis is just another stage of the exoskeleton, rather that a separately spun cocoon.