The Life Cycle of a Butterfly
The life cycle of a butterfly has four different stages. Butterflies, along with moths, bees, flies and beetles are insects that have a complete metamorphosis through these four stages. In each stage they have a completely different look from that of the adult butterfly. The life cycle of a butterfly consists of egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Butterflies spend most of their time searching for a mate. They recognize a female of their species by the color of the wing pattern. They will often approach an object or even a person wearing clothing of the same color as the female. The male butterfly impregnates the female with a spermatophore, which is a combination of both the sperm and the nutrients the female will need to bring the eggs into being.
The egg is the first stage of the life cycle of a butterfly. The female lays anywhere from 200-1500 eggs because very few will survive long enough to actually become an adult butterfly. Many types of insects, animals and birds eat the butterfly eggs plus they are killed by many types of fungi and diseases. The eggs are laid on plant leaves, usually a plant that is edible by butterflies so that the caterpillar can begin feeding immediately. The caterpillar emerges from the egg in approximately five days.
The second stage in the lifecycle of a butterfly is the caterpillar. It is also known as the larva stage. It could be known as the eating stage because the caterpillar only has one goal and that is to eat as much food as it possibly can. A caterpillar will grow several thousand times his original size to around two inches in this stage. The caterpillar begins by eating his own egg shell and then eats as many leaves as he can. As the caterpillar grows, he molts which means he sheds his skin. A caterpillar sheds his skin 5-6 times over several weeks and then starts to look for a place to begin the next stage in the life cycle of a butterfly.
The third stage is called the pupa or chrysalis. The chrysalis can be in a number of places, such as buried in the ground, on the underside of a branch or out of sight in a bunch of leaves. From the outside the chrysalis looks like a hard sac but on the inside it is a soft cocoon. Here special cells that were present in the larva stage will develop into all the different parts of an adult butterfly. This stage in the life cycle of a butterfly can last from a few weeks to as long as two years, depending on the species of butterfly.
Finally, the fourth stage begins as the adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. As the caterpillar’s only goal was eating, the adult butterfly’s only goal is reproducing. Some butterflies don’t eat at all but the majority do eat the nectar from flowers and seek out minerals from shallow water or dung. Other than that they just fly about looking for a mate. Reproduction must be accomplished quickly as most butterflies have a lifespan of only two weeks.