Question

What is the life cycle of butterfly?

Answer 1

Life cycle of Butterfly:

The butterfly has a four staged life cycle:

Stage 1: The Egg –

1. The female butterfly lays the egg on the surface of a leaf or a stem.
2. The egg is tiny, oval or cylindrical and varies in colour. The popular larvae form of a butterfly known as the caterpillar gradually grows inside the egg.
3. These eggs hatch according to the favourable conditions outside, if it’s warm the eggs faster otherwise it takes a few weeks.

Stage 2: The Larva (Caterpillar) –

1. The larvae or in this case a caterpillar that hatches goes on an eating rampage.
2. In this stage they eat, moult and repeat that process constantly.
3. After hatching the caterpillar is extremely hungry and eats constantly.
4. The caterpillar eats it way out of the egg and then continues to eat plants in the outside world.

Stage 3: The Pupa (Chrysalis) –

1. The caterpillar forms a vessel around it, called the ‘pupa’.
2. Inside the pupa the caterpillar gradually grows and develops. During this stage the pupa creates skins around the vessel that makes the exterior hard.
3. The chrysalis protects the pupa till it transforms into a butterfly and breaks out of the vessel.

Stage 4: The Adult –

1. The most prominent and known stage to human beings is the adult stage when the Chrysalis breaks out of the vessel with colourful scaly wings.
2. At first these scaly wings are folded against the body of the butterfly because of its brittle nature.
3. Once it pumps blood into the wing the butterfly flies in search of food and other butterflies to mate with.
4. After the mating is completed, the female butterfly lays eggs on a leaf or flat surface and the whole cycle begins all over again.