The biological process by which an organism or tissue develops or is converted into chitin, a hard protective substance found in insects and crustaceans.
From chitin (from French chitin, ultimately from Greek chitōn 'tunic') plus -ization, a suffix forming nouns describing processes. The term emerged in 19th-century biology.
Insects underwent chitinization hundreds of millions of years ago, which is why they could conquer every environment on Earth—this one chemical transformation in their evolution was as world-changing as any in biology!
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