Direct development is a concept inbiology. It refers to forms of growth to adulthood that do not involvemetamorphosis. An animal undergoes direct development if the immature organism resembles a small adult rather than having a distinctlarval form.[1] A frog that hatches out of its egg as a small frog undergoes direct development. A frog that hatches out of its egg as atadpole does not.
Direct development is the opposite ofcomplete metamorphosis. An animal undergoes complete metamorphosis if it becomes a non-moving thing, for example apupa in acocoon, between its larval and adult stages.[2]
