Youngster a future monarch? (4)
I believe the answer is:
pupa
'future monarch?' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'youngster a' is the wordplay.
'youngster' becomes 'pup' (a pup is a young dog).
'pup'+'a'='PUPA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pupa that I've seen before include "Developing butterfly" , "So peacock may have appeared" , "Immature insect" , "Insect life stage between larva and adult" , "developing creature" .)