First Stage
The eggs are the first stage; they are sometime referred to as the unborn stage. Each egg starts off as very small, about the size of a pin head. They are round and cylindrical. Some eggs are transparent, and others may be ribbed and have features or structures (Learn about Nature, n.d.; Opler, n.d.). Female butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of a plant leaf, typically close to the food the caterpillar will eat when it emerges (Learn about Nature, n.d.; Opler, n.d.). After the butterfly has laid the eggs it will die (Watts, 1986).
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Second Stage
The second stage is the larva or caterpillar. After about ten days, the caterpillar will break through the shell and eat it, but the caterpillar is not yet fully grown at this point (Gibbons, 1989; Watts, 1986).
Caterpillar In this stage caterpillars mostly eat, so they can grow. Their skin does not grow, so they molt. Molting is shedding the outgrown skin; caterpillars will do this at least four times before they are fully grown (Learn about Nature, n.d.; Watts, 1986). It is about five weeks of eating for a caterpillar to become full grown, at which point the caterpillar has small eye and breaths through small hole on its body (Gibbons, 1989: Watts, 1986). |
Third Stage
Pupa
The pupa is also known as the stage of the chrysalis. In this stage, the caterpillar eats its way up the leaf from which it emerged and begins to make a silk pad to rest on. Then it spins a silk wrap around its body (Watts, 1986). The butterfly is inside the chrysalis is where it will transform into a butterfly. |
Chrysalis
“The chrysalis is like a blanket wrapped around the body growing inside” (Gibbons, 1989, p. 18). “The chrysalis (or pupa) is the transformation stage within which the caterpillar tissues are broken down and the adult insect's structures are formed” (Opler, n.d., para. 4). The chrysalis starts off as big, soft and green as the weeks go by it shrinks (Gibbons, 1989). After about three weeks, the chrysalis turns grey and transparent, at this point you can see the colorful wings on the inside (Gibbons, 1989). At this point the caterpillar is now a butterfly, and, as it breaks out of the chrysalis, it is visible that it is a butterfly.
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Last Stage
Adult Butterfly
Once the butterfly breaks out of the chrysalis, it flaps its wings to dry them off and to get blood flowing; this usually is a three or four hour period (Learn about Nature, n.d.; Watts, 1986). Adult butterflies are colorful and easily seen. An average sized adult butterfly has about a two or three inch wing span, and, once the butterfly has mastered flying, it can migrate or colonize a new habitat (Opler, n.d.). Adult butterflies are always looking out for a mate to reproduce with. The adult butterfly is in the last stage where it will under-go courtship, mating and, for female butterflies, they will lay eggs of their own, after which they will die and a new cycle will begin (Learn about Nature, n.d.; Opler, n.d.). |