The Life Cycle of the Butterfly

Students can gain valuable lessons about biology, metamorphosis and sustainability by exploring the lifecycle of butterflies.

After an egg hatches, its contents transform into larvae or moths which feed upon food sources while growing and molting multiple times through apolysis (shedding its skin multiple times).

As it develops into a butterfly, a caterpillar forms a protective shell called a chrysalis around itself to serve as its home until it emerges as one and breaks free of its confinement.

Egg

The butterfly life cycle includes four steps: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa and adult. This metamorphosis process occurs rapidly with each stage taking different amounts of time depending on its species.

Female butterflies lay their eggs near a host plant for each stage in their life cycle. These eggs tend to be small and hard-shelled; the butterfly may lay them singly or clusters. To hatch successfully, their moisture level needs to remain constant during development.

Once eggs hatch, caterpillars emerge. Worm-like in nature and feeding on plant leaves, caterpillars quickly grow in size before needing to shed their exoskeleton several times due to increased size. Once their growth cycle ends, caterpillars find a safe spot where they form an encasing called a chrysalis for protection and pupation.

Once inside a chrysalis, caterpillars stop feeding and begin creating an enclosure from silk strands encasing themselves. This cocoon may last from several weeks up to several months or even two years for moths; depending on species.

As soon as the adult butterfly emerges from its chrysalis, its soft wings will fold against its body. Over a period of hours it must pump blood into them until they expand fully and can begin flying and searching for a mate.

Help your students gain an understanding of the butterfly life cycle with tactile images of each stage. A cardboard butterfly pattern could be traced onto paper before flipping it over and tracing out an outline for caterpillar and egg on one side and chrysalis on another, then let your students color the image before encouraging them to create their own tactile images using pasta shapes, gems, pompoms or pipe stem cleaners – or other materials available – they could use.

Caterpillar

As a caterpillar grows, its body becomes too big to fit inside of its exoskeleton. When this occurs, its old skin splits and sheds to reveal fresh new skin underneath – this process, known as molting, occurs several times throughout larval stage and each time adds segments to head capsule, mouthparts, legs and eyes. Once its new skin becomes too tight for them to tolerate anymore they stop eating and begin searching for somewhere safe to pupate (usually attached to their food plant, however some moth caterpillars spin silk cocoons called chrysalis).

Once a caterpillar has found an appropriate environment to transform into an adult butterfly, they will begin the transition process by wiggling and shaking their bodies in order to loosen the grip on its old exoskeleton. When laid down on its side, cells from its old exoskeleton begin breaking down cellular level to become the wings, legs, eyes of an adult butterfly; this process may take several days depending on its species of caterpillar as well as growing conditions.

Once the caterpillar has finished dismantling itself, it will form its chrysalis. A chrysalis is not a solid structure like a cocoon; instead it resembles more of a liquid membrane with spines attached. Inside its confines lies incredible processes taking place; such as liquidifying into adult wings and bodies while simultaneously restructuring original muscles into supporting structures for its new wings and bodies.

When butterflies are ready to take flight, they emerge from their chrysalises by breaking open the chrysalis and pumping hemolymph fluid into their wings until they have hardened enough for flight. Once dry and strong enough for flight, caterpillars search for suitable spots where they can mate and lay more eggs; this cycle continues as female butterflies lay their eggs on plants that they were born from and their offspring continue it too – this unique life cycle allows butterflies to be found worldwide! This amazing species provides such amazing diversity allowing them to be found practically everywhere they could possibly be.

Chrysalis

At this stage, a caterpillar undergoes complete dismantlement on a cellular level and reorganization into its adult form within its butterfly chrysalis (an enclosure made of hardened skin). Although it appears as though nothing is happening on the outside, this process takes several days if done successfully.

A caterpillar will choose an undisturbed leaf or branch as its home to create its chrysalis. Once there, they’ll spin some silk threads to attach to its surface before moving under them into their new skin and pumping fluid into their wings for drying and expansion ahead of their eventual emergence.

Now is when students can begin to witness the transformation take shape! With wings dried out and fully expanded, it’s time for emerge!

Once ready, a butterfly will use its claws to crack open its chrysalis and push out. It will then flutter around its habitat bringing smiles from visitors for 2-6 weeks until it’s time to lay its eggs.

Before monarch butterflies can lay their eggs, they must first find a suitable male. After mating successfully, female monarchs search for milkweed to lay their eggs upon. When their larvae hatch out from those eggs, the cycle continues anew.

Display images of each stage of a butterfly’s life cycle and encourage students to jot down questions on a “Wonder Wall”, then use these answers as the basis of your teaching. Or try our Butterfly Life Cycle Cut and Paste Activity or this song to help children memorize each stage of its metamorphosis.

Though the lifecycle of a butterfly may appear complex, its development consists of four very clear stages. When discussing butterflies with young students, this fact must be kept in mind so as not to discourage their learning or discourage any discouragement that might arise when encountering difficulties in learning the topic.

Adult

Once a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis, it becomes an adult. Adult butterflies typically possess long antennae and legs as well as compound eyes with thousands of light-sensitive ommatidia; its two palpi (claws) serve for feeding while its straw-like proboscis (tongue) drinks nectar from plants. Furthermore, adults butterflies can fly compared to caterpillars and larvae, giving it access to food sources or potential mates more quickly.

Adult butterflies’ brief lifespan includes searching for a mate and laying eggs to kickstart a life cycle all over again. Female butterflies lay hundreds of tiny eggs on suitable host plants, which hatch into caterpillars that go through their own cycles of growth, molting, pupation, and adulthood to become adults again.

As caterpillars mature, they shed their old skin, or exoskeleton. This process, known as molting, allows the caterpillar to gain new body parts that more closely resemble its adult form and look more like its adult self. Over the course of metamorphosis they undergo several molts each revealing new elements of themselves – each time their appearance changes drastically!

At this point, the larva prepares for its pupal phase by developing a silky pupal skin to protect itself from parasites and predators. Cocoon formation may take anywhere between several days and one week depending on temperature conditions and butterfly species.

As soon as a butterfly emerges from its cocoon, its wings are damp and soft – they may even fold against its body! When this happens, they hang upside-down to pump fluid through their veins in order to straighten and stretch their wings; it takes several hours for these perfectly pumped wings to dry and harden into flight-worthy conditions.

An adult butterfly is truly magnificent to witness; yet its life cycle spans only one short year. But its remarkable biological process of progress from egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult is truly mesmerizing to watch.

A Butterfly Life Cycle Kit is an engaging way to bring the beauty and magic of butterfly’s life cycle into your home or classroom, complete with everything needed for attracting and studying them. These kits include everything you need for success.