preadult

1. not comparableNot yet adult.

plural preadults

1. One who is not yet an adult.

   In May it transforms to a preadult, and about 15 days later it becomes mature. No males or winged forms of this species are known.

   1935, Milton Stover Eisenhower, United States Department of Agriculture Yearbook 1935, Washington, Office of Printers to House of Representatives, page 132

   2 more examples

   This species has been described from a series of specimens including holotype adult female and paratype adult females and males and preadults collected by Mr. E. G. Smyth on Acacia species at Oaxaco, Mexico, September 22, 1923, while he was engaged in a search through Mexico for parasitic enemies of the Mexican Bean Beetle for the Bureau of Entomology.

   1927, Biological Society of Washington, Smithsonian Institution, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Volume 40, Biological Society of Washington, page 108

   The food required for larvae and the adults might be different in their quality and quantity. Sastry (1965) reared the scallop larvae to preadults by providing unicellular algae as food. Additional experiments to determine the value of different organisms in plankton as food for larvae are needed for an understanding of the relationship between food and reproduction.

   1966, Alfred Clarence Redfield, Carl Richard Moore, Frank Rattray Lillie, The Biological Bulletin, Volume 130, Marine Biological Laboratory, page 132