Butterfly World

Butterfly World

Butterfly World
Stages of a Butterfly
A butterfly is an insect which is notable for its life cycle. The four stages of a butterfly’s lifecycle are as follows: egg, larva or caterpillar stage, pupa or chrysalis stage, and a final adult butterfly stage. As such, a butterfly’s life starts out as an egg and matures into a caterpillar. The butterfly eggs are usually laid on top of plants. Each species of butterfly has its own host plant. Once the egg hatches and becomes a larva or caterpillar, the caterpillar eats the egg shell and the host plant. Caterpillars are known to eat more food in comparison to their body size than any other animal on the planet. Once they have had enough to eat and are fully grown, they move on to their pupa or chrysalis stage. They do this by anchoring onto a hard substance like a twig and form a hard outer shell.
The pupa of each butterfly depends on the species. A common predator to the pupa can be ants or wasps. If the pupa happens to be disrupted in their transformation within their shell, this future butterfly could either emerge deformed or die shortly after hatching. Each butterfly species has a different color or shape to its chrysalis or pupa. After it finished the pupa stage, a butterfly cannot fly until its wings are unfolded. A newly-emerged butterfly needs to spend some time inflating its wings with blood and letting them dry. Different species of butterflies have different size and colored wings. For example, the largest butterfly in the world is called the “Large Swallowtail.”
Body Parts of a Caterpillar and Butterfly
Caterpillars have three main body parts which consist of the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head is the upper area and is the part of the insect that contains the brain, two eyes, and two antennae. The thorax is the middle area where the legs attach. Caterpillars have six main legs which work and the rest are fakes which don’t actually walk but are dragged alongside the others. The...

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