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Butterfly Life Cycle / Butterfly Metamorphosis

Bees in Hive
The Butterfly Life Cycle

Lets explore a butterflys life cycle in detail, including all four stages of life. All butterflies have
"complete metamorphosis." To grow into an adult they go through 4 stages: egg, larva, pupa and
adult. Each stage has a different goal - for instance, caterpillars need to eat a lot, and adults need to
reproduce. Depending on the type of butterfly, the life cycle of a butterfly may take anywhere from
one month to a whole year. You can print out this Butterfly Life Cycle coloring page to follow along as
we talk about the 4 stages.

The First Stage: The Egg

Butterfly Eggs on a Leaf

A butterfly starts life as a very small, round, oval or cylindrical egg. The coolest thing about butterfly
eggs, especially monarch butterfly eggs, is that if you look close enough you can actually see the
tiny caterpillar growing inside of it. Some butterfly eggs may be round, some oval and some may be

ribbed while others may have other features. The egg shape depends on the type of butterfly that
laid the egg.
Butterfly eggs are usually laid on the leaves of plants, so if you are actively searching for these
very tiny eggs, you will have to take some time and examine quite a few leaves in order to find
some.

The Second Stage: The Larva (Caterpillar)

Butterfly Caterpillar

When the egg finally hatches, most of you would expect for a butterfly to emerge, right? Well, not
exactly. In the butterflys life cycle, there are four stages and this is only the second stage. Butterfly
larvae are actually what we call caterpillars. Caterpillars do not stay in this stage for very long and
mostly, in this stage all they do is eat.
When the egg hatches, the caterpillar will start his work and eat the leaf they were born onto. This is
really important because the mother butterfly needs to lay her eggs on the type of leaf the caterpillar
will eat each caterpillar type likes only certain types of leaves. Since they are tiny and can not travel
to a new plant, the caterpillar needs to hatch on the kind of leaf it wants to eat.

Caterpillars need to eat and eat so they can grow quickly. When a caterpillar is born, they are
extremely small. When they start eating, they instantly start growing and expanding. Their
exoskeleton (skin) does not stretch or grow, so they grow by molting (sheding the outgrown skin)
several times while it grows.

The Third Stage: Pupa (Chrysalis)

Caterpillar Becoming a Chrysalis

The pupa stage is one of the coolest stages of a butterflys life. As soon as a caterpillar is done
growing and they have reached their full length/weight, they form themselves into a pupa, also
known as a chrysalis. From the outside of the pupa, it looks as if the caterpillar may just be resting,
but the inside is where all of the action is. Inside of the pupa, the caterpillar is rapidly changing.

Monarch Caterpillar Becoming a Chrysalis

Now, as most people know, caterpillars are short, stubby and have no wings at all. Within the
chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called
metamorphosis, to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge. Tissue,
limbs and organs of a caterpillar have all been changed by the time the pupa is finished, and is now
ready for the final stage of a butterflys life cycle.

The Fourth Stage: Adult Butterfly

Butterfly Emerging from a Chrysalis

Finally, when the caterpillar has done all of its forming and changing inside the pupa, if you are
lucky, you will get to see an adult butterfly emerge. When the butterfly first emerges from the
chrysalis, both of the wings are going to be soft and folded against its body. This is because the
butterfly had to fit all its new parts inside of the pupa.

Watch a Monarch Hatching

As soon as the butterfly has rested after coming out of the chrysalis, it will pump blood into the wings
in order to get them working and flapping then they get to fly. Usually within a three or four-hour
period, the butterfly will master flying and will search for a mate in order to reproduce.
When in the fourth and final stage of their lives, adult butterflies are constantly on the look out to
reproduce and when a female lays their eggs on some leaves, the butterfly life cycle will start all
over.

How Can You See The Butterfly Life Cycle?

These kids got to observe livePainted Lady caterpillars turn into Butterflies.

There are many different ways that you can catch this miracle happen right before your eyes, for
instance, there are live butterfly kits that come with caterpillars so you can see this amazing
transformation right in front of you!
These live butterfly kits are amazing for a science project or simply for children to learn all about
the ever-changing caterpillar and the butterflys life cycle in general. One of the greatest things
about these live butterfly kits is the fact that after the butterflies hatch out of their pupas, you can
observe them for a little while and then let them go!
Letting your butterflies go is not only a satisfying experience but it is one that is very important to
teach your children. Children have to learn that animals do not need to be locked up and while it is
okay to observe them sometimes, it is always best to let nature take its course.

Teachers can buy a live School Size Painted Lady Butterfly raising
kit

Now that you have learned all about the butterflys life cycle, why dont you teach someone else?
This amazing life cycle is a great lesson for anyone to learn and it is not only a lesson that involves
an ever-changing insect, but it is one that we can apply to ourselves as well. For instance, when a

child is feeling down on themselves, you can explain to them that not only do people change inside
every day, but insects like the butterfly do too.
The butterfly life cycle is a great story to tell anyone and everyone and it is even better to observe it
happen right in front of you. Live butterfly kits allow you to see for yourself the entire life cycle of this
incredible creature and allows your children to learn more and more about these beautiful insects!

What we tend to overlook, when we are first attracted to butterfly

observation, is that the butterfly is the result of a much longer

journey......a journey that is quite different from that of many creatures
on this planet. The flight stage is the final statement......the last hurrah
so to speak.

No doubt that during your early adventures you will become increasingly

aware of these other facets of a butterfly's life span but for many these
stages remain a mystery. Actually what occurs prior to the flight stage of
development is by far more intriguing and captivating. As you gather
information on the stages of butterfly development, scientifically known
as metamorphosis, please keep in mind that the way in which it ultimately
plays out can be species specific.

Egg

Larva

Pupa

Butterfly

Obviously newly hatched caterpillars are minute little creatures, some

virtually invisible to the naked eye but they are eating machines that grow
very quickly. Growth does not occur during the flight stage. It is done

strictly while in the larva stage and they can multiply in size by more than
a thousand fold in no time. In a matter of a few weeks they can go from
an egg, to a caterpillar, to a chrysalis, to another egg laying butterfly. For
some species this process occurs only once during our season but for
others two or three cycles can be completed before diapause, hibernation
or migration must occur.

It all starts with the eggs which are very tiny to microscopic and

generally, but not always, laid on the underside of host plant leaves either
singly or in clusters. Host plants are located by the adult butterfly's
ability to distinguish the plant's chemical signature. For many species the
growing season for their host plants can extend for many months allowing
for multiple broods.

Eggs may also be deposited near the area in which the host plant may be

found. This condition arises when specific host plants have died off at
their season end and the eggs are required to overwinter in order to take
advantage of the following season's crop. So, depending on the time of
year the eggs are laid will dictate when the eggs are predetermined to
hatch. If they are laid early enough in the season they will come full term
usually within a week or so, again depending on the species. If they are
deposited late in the season the eggs may be required to wait until the
following season to complete the remainder of the journey. An example of
this scenario is best demonstrated by many of the Fritillaries that feed
exclusively on violets. These violets die off part way through the
Fritillary's flight season thus the eggs of the last brood are required to
over winter in order to take advantage of the following seasons crop of
their sole host plant.

As a caterpillar their appearance can be even more diverse than in their

final stage as a butterfly. They can be naked, hairy or have varying

amounts of bristles or spike like appendages adorning their tubular form.
Colours range from dull bland singular colours, that serve to camouflage,
to mixtures of bright stripes or blotches that serve to warn. Essentially
they are harmless even though they can appear to be quite
menacing.....like the Swallowtail caterpillars. Some are distasteful
and others poisonous to predators as is the Monarch, Cabbage White and
Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars. Caterpillars of this type are usually
brightly marked to serve as an unmistakable reminder that they should be
avoided. Never-the-less, it is this stage that tends to go largely unnoticed
as they go quietly about their business.

Throughout the larval stage a caterpillar has to shed it's skin several

times in order to accommodate further growth. The time between these

sheddings is called an "instar" of which there are usually an average of
five and spans two to four weeks. When we use the term a "third instar"
caterpillar we are saying that it has shed twice. Immediately upon
shedding it's old skin the larva fills with air. This allows the new skin to
take on that size giving the caterpillar as much room as possible to grow
into this new size. After each of these transformations it is possible that
the caterpillar can be a different colour or appearance from the time
before. Therefore, depending on which instar a caterpillar is in,
understanding the instars can play a roll in the identification process.

When the final instar occurs what emerges is the pupa, which when

completed, usually resembles part of the plant they are on........this serves

as camouflage. This stage may last a week or so at which time the final
stage an adult butterfly is produced, that either carries on the next
generation locally or migrates, like the Monarch, to warmer climates
before winter. Or they might over winter in this stage and emerge the
following season to complete their predetermined task. In any case the
transformation, while in the pupa stage, is truly a miracle. What emerges
from this case in no way resembles the caterpillar that produced it.
Basically what happens is the complete disassembly of the cells that made
up the caterpillar and the reassembling of those cells into it's new
form....a butterfly. Upon emergence the swollen body immediately begins
to pump fluids into the tiny shrived up wings. Within a couple of hours the
wings are full size, dried, become more rigid and are capable of flight.

A few varieties, such as the Mourning Cloak or Compton Tortoiseshell,

choose to hibernate here as adult butterflies and complete their cycle

the following season. Others, like the Crossline Skipper, overwinter in
their larval stage and some Elfins do so during the pupa stage. Still
another way to beat winter is to do so as an egg as with the Bog Copper.
Some Hairstreaks do this but they have an obstacle to overcome by
choosing this method. As you are now aware eggs are laid on or near host
plants so when the eggs hatch the food supply is right there. Since
Hairstreak hosts are trees, rather than plants and if the eggs were laid
traditionally on the leaves, they would fall to the ground in the fall
presenting a food source proximity problem the following spring. This is
overcome by depositing the eggs on the buds at the base of the leaf stem
so the egg will remain in the tree close to the food source when the time
is right.

These timelines can be complex and require a little more determination

to follow in their entirety but it is very rewarding to observe the slightly

different approaches to all four stages of the journey. As you can see
from this page all butterflies follow the same scenario but not necessarily
the same timeline when confronted with a seasonal environment. Even

within the same species and the same season the timeline can vary
between broods. Adaptation is the key to survival for any butterfly