Hi, now we are going to discuss about life cycle of butterfly which will give you an general overview about the common pattern observed in the life cycle of other insects. Butterfly are a member of order lepidoptera and they are famous for their colorful wings and the pattern of colour in their wings show great diversity.
Their wings show dusty scale and their name of order lepidoptera also refer to the word scaly wings and other members of lepidoptera also have scaly wings. These scaly wings are the main reason for their beauty because the special pattern of scales on their wings give each butterfly a unique colourful look.
They are cold blooded animals so they are not able to keep their internal body temperature constant in varying external temperature and when outside temperature is very low they spread their wings on leaves to absorb the heat energy from outside to keep their body temperature high.
Table of Contents
Life Cycle of Butterfly:
Like most of the insects butterfly show metamorphosis in their life cycle and they show complete metamorphosis and pass through eggs, larva or caterpillar stage, pupa stage and adult stage and they show much variety in every stage of their life cycle and we will discuss each stage one by one below.
Egg Stage:
Female adult butterfly mates with male butterfly and female butterfly lay large numbers of eggs on plant leaves or on stem in clusters when the condition becomes favourable the eggs hatch.
In butterflies the eggs are generally oval or cylindrical shape and the colour varies greatly and the eggs are tiny and they generally laid on the surface of leaves which becomes food for the larvae in future.
But it takes some time when external conditions are not favourable, sometimes it can take a few weeks to hatch the eggs but if external temperature is high then it hatch very soon. Inside the fertilized eggs the immature larva grow slowly and become ready to come outside and the larvae is known as caterpillar.
Caterpillar Stage:
After hatching the caterpillar starts to feed on the plant parts, especially the leafy soft part of the plant and they continue to feed on the plant so in some cases they cause much damage to the plant.
The caterpillar becomes very hungry after coming out of the eggs and moult multiple times which converts them from one larval stage to another larval stage and continues to feed until they reach the pupa stage.
Pupa Stage:
During the caterpillar stage they eat very much continuously but in the pupa stage they are unable to take any food because they create a vessel- like structure around their body and this stage is known as pupa stage or chrysalis.
In pupa stage the larvae secret some material which make a tough layer in the vessels which make the vessels very strong enough to protect the caterpillar from any external factors.
Inside the vessel- like structure the caterpillar develops slowly into the butterfly stage and after some time the pupa stage transforms into the butterfly and then they become independent.
Adult Stage:
Inside the vessels in pupa stage the butterfly wings are very weak because they are not developed yet and the wings are present in folded against the butterfly body. But when the wings become much stronger they use their wings to break the vessels and come outside and in a very short span of time then pump blood into their wings which makes their wings much stronger to fly.
Then they start to fly and search for their food and with time they become capable of reproduction and they mate. After mate, female butterflies lay eggs which continue their life cycle again and they go through the successive stages in their life cycle to continue their entity on earth.
Read More: What is average lifespan of a butterfly
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