Life cycle of a Butterfly

By facebooker_1242546789460869
  • Period: 2 to 2

    Eggs

    A monarch begins life as an egg stuck under a milkweed leaf. The worm (a larva) grows inside the egg. When ready, the larva chews a hole on the outside of its egg, and crawls through the hole until it can enter the world outside. After a few minutes, the larvae eats the remains of its egg for the first time. Female monarchs lay one to three eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. This process is repeated until the female has left hundreds of eggs
  • Period: 2 to 2

    Larva

    After eating its egg, the larva begins to eat milkweed leaves. Asclepia is the only plant that a monarch larva can eat. The larva eats and grows, grows and eats. She grows so big that she can't fit in her old skin, almost like you grow so big that she can't fit in your old clothes.
  • Period: 3 to 3

    Pupa

    When the remaining skin falls off, the larva pupates. It has no eyes, no antennae. He has no legs, and he cannot move. All major changes in body shape, size, and arrangement take place when it is a pupa. In monarchs, this stage can last as long as a week. Upon completion, an adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis
  • Period: 4 to 4

    Adult

    An emerging butterfly waits two to three hours before it can fly. New wings are small and wrinkled, which is why it pumps liquid through its wing veins to make them larger. Afterward, the monarch has to wait until a little air can replace some of the liquid. Up to this point, the monarch cannot fly, and her wings are very easily damaged.
  • Period: 5 to 5

    Food

    A part of the butterfly's life cycle is changing its diet during different stages of its development. Monarch larvae only eat the leaves of plants called milkweed. When they become adults they switch to eating the nectar of different plants, including milkweed.
  • Period: 6 to 6

    Mating

    Adult monarchs begin mating in the spring, before returning to their summer range. Female monarchs generally lay a maximum of three eggs under milkweed leaves. She does this many times until she has laid hundreds of eggs. These eggs hatch into larvae, pupae, and become adults in the summer. These new adults also mate. The new females lay the eggs on their flight north. This cycle repeats itself throughout the summer.

  • Life cycle of a Butterfly

    There are four stages in the life cycle of a butterfly. These stages include the egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The entire process is called complete metamorphosis and it is one of the two forms that insects develop from an egg to an adult. The other type of development is called incomplete metamorphosis.