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The Life Cycle of A Butterfly

The life cycle of a butterfly includes four stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa, and adult. The female butterfly lays eggs on leaves, which hatch into caterpillars that molt several times as they eat voraciously. When fully grown, the caterpillar forms a chrysalis and undergoes metamorphosis inside, emerging as a winged adult butterfly. The new butterfly allows its wings to expand and harden before flying off to mate and continue the cycle.

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41 views

The Life Cycle of A Butterfly

The life cycle of a butterfly includes four stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa, and adult. The female butterfly lays eggs on leaves, which hatch into caterpillars that molt several times as they eat voraciously. When fully grown, the caterpillar forms a chrysalis and undergoes metamorphosis inside, emerging as a winged adult butterfly. The new butterfly allows its wings to expand and harden before flying off to mate and continue the cycle.

Uploaded by

mohamedsam.2009.ms
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Butterflies were not always as brightly coloured


insects as they are in their adult stage, they have
passed through a series of changes called
metamorphosis.

It all starts when the female butterfly lays some


eggs. The eggs are usually laid on leaves, and they
can vary in shapes and sizes: oval, round, smooth,
bumpy, small …etc. Upon seeing the eggs, a
miniature larva or caterpillar could be seen. Only
if the weather is warm, the eggs will hatch.

Once the larvae emerge out of the eggs, they


immediately start to eat the egg they hatched
from. After a while, the larvae start to feed on
leaves. In this section of the butterfly’s life, it
sheds its skin about 4-5 times to get more room
to grow. The larvae keep eating and eating till
they become sufficiently big to stop eating.
After a small period of time, the larva hangs still
from a tree branch. It then starts to form a
chamber like protective layer named chrysalis.
Inside the chrysalis, the larva evolves into a
butterfly, while remaining still. Since the pupa is
motionless inside the chrysalis, no predator can
suspect that there is a butterfly.

The case around the butterfly splits open, for the


butterfly is ready to be set free. The butterfly
would not be able to fly until its wings are big and
strong enough to hold them in the air. The
butterfly must pump fluids into its wings, so it
inflates and becomes stronger. They look for
mates and then repeat the whole cycle again.

There is a belief that butterflies landing on you


will bring you good luck, but they are actually
attracted to your sweat.

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