From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpupatepu‧pate /pjuːˈpeɪt $ ˈpjuːpeɪt/ verb [intransitive] technical to become a pupa→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
pupate• The last consideration that decides the form the lid should take is the needs of the caterpillars when they pupate.• When the caterpillar is fully grown it usually hangs upside down from a leaf or plant stem, and begins to pupate.• Eventually, the larvae begin to pupate and no longer exude their chemical messages.• As the year warms into summer, they pupate and turn into small greyish-black moths.• Finally, in midsummer, the caterpillars pupate, creating a dark brown shell.• It even sheds its coat periodically, and by the time it is born, it is able to pupate immediately.• In fact, eventually, it will crawl out of you and drop off, to pupate in the ground.• The females lay their eggs on milkweed and the caterpillars feed on these plants until they pupate, prior to emerging as butterflies. 