An
imaginal disc is one of the parts of a
holometabolous insect larva that will become a portion of the outside of the
adult insect during the
pupal transformation. Contained within the body of the larva, there are pairs of discs that will form, for instance, the
wings or
legs or
antennae or other structures in the adult. The role of the imaginal disc in insect development was first elucidated by Jan Swammerdam.