Naturaleza

Butterfly Life-CycleBy FluttertimeButterflies are one of the most unique animals on earth. Few other species go through such a startling metamorphosis as do the butterflies. Much research has beendone about the stages of a butterflies life but the exact processes involved in the final transformation to an adult are still somewhat of a mystery.Butterfly Life-Cycle |
The butterfly life cyclestarts when the female lays her eggs usually on the underside of the host plant that will become food for her young catepillars. How many eggs are laid vary dependent on what species, but normally thefemale lays only one egg on each leaf. The eggs are very small (slightly larger than the head of a pin) and are usually whitish in color. It takes about a week untill the eggs hatch and the catepillaremerges. Immediately after hatching, the caterpillar is so small it can barely be seen. The first instinct of a new catepillar is to eat. Even before it begins eating the leaves of the host plant, itfirst consumes the pupa or chrysalis that was previously its home. During the early stages catepillars grow very fast. It only takes on average about 9 to 14 days to reach over 2" in length.This rapidgrowth creates a problem for the catepillar. As it grows, it stretches its skin to the limit and must shed its skin much like snakes do when their body has outgrown the skin. Caterpillars shed theirskin four or five times during the larval stage. A new, larger skin is always growing under the one that is shed.When the caterpillar is full grown it usually leaves its host plant. It crawls(sometimes 30 or 40 feet away) until it finds a safe place to pupate. The caterpillar makes a silk-like mat and then attaches its last pair of legs to the mat. The caterpillar allows itself to drop and thenhangs there, upside down in a J-shape, for about one full day.The caterpillar's skin is shed for the last time as it passes from the larval (caterpillar) stage to the pupa (chrysalis) stage of...