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Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis (the life stages of a
monarch butterfly) |
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 Metamorphosis
is the series of developmental stages insects go through to become adults.
Butterflies and moths have four stages of life: egg, larva (the caterpillar
stage), pupa (the chrysalis phase in a butterfly's development), and adult. It takes a monarch butterfly just
28 to 38 days to complete its life cycle, with warmer temperatures generally
being responsible for faster development. |
 Monarch
females lay their eggs on milkweed, the only plant monarch caterpillars
can eat. The eggs are laid singly and generally on the undersides of leaves. The
eggs are very small (about the size of the periods at the end of the sentences
on this page) and are white in color. Each egg is attached to the leaf by an
adhesive fluid that is applied to the egg as it is being laid. Four to six days after the eggs are
deposited, they will hatch. |
 Immediately
after hatching, the caterpillar is so small it can barely be seen. It grows very
fast though, feeding on nothing but milkweed leaves. A Monarch caterpillar can
eat enough Milkweed in one day to equal its own body weight. Just 9 to 14
days after hatching from its eggs, a caterpillar will be about 2" long and
fully grown. A caterpillar has eight pair of legs (three pair of true legs
on its thorax and five pair of prolegs on its abdomen). |
 A
monarch caterpillar sheds its skin five times during the larval stage. Similar
to the way a snake sheds its skin when its body has outgrown the skin, a
caterpillar does the same. A new, larger skin is always waiting under the one
that is shed. See the caterpillar's shed skin laying just behind its tail end? |
 When the caterpillar is full grown it usually leaves the milkweed plant. It crawls (sometimes 20 or 30 feet away from the milkweed) until it finds a safe place to pupate. The caterpillar lays down a silk-like mat and then attaches itself to the mat with its cremaster. The caterpillar allows itself to drop and then hangs 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 metamorphosis. Under the
caterpillar's skin this time is a jade green casing which is called a chrysalis.
Inside the chrysalis, which is only about an inch long, the caterpillar will
miraculously transform into a beautiful butterfly. |
 Immediately
after the skin is shed, the chrysalis is very soft. Within an hour though, it
hardens to become a protective shell for the caterpillar inside. Looking at
picture, you can still see the rippled body of caterpillar in the newly formed
chrysalis on the left. The chrysalis on the right has hardened to become a
beautiful jade green shell. Dramatic changes occur inside the chrysalis. The
mouth parts must go from being those required for chewing (what the caterpillar
needed to eat milkweed leaves) to what a butterfly will need: a straw-like
tongue used for sipping nectar from flowers. And a creepy, crawling insect will
become a flying insect, one of the most beautiful insects on earth! |
In just 9 to 14 days the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is
complete. Through the chrysalis, you can now see the orange and black wings of
the monarch butterfly.With no visible signs to signal the emergence of the butterfly from its chrysalis, the chrysalis suddenly cracks open and out comes the monarch butterfly. Its wings are tiny, crumpled, and wet. The butterfly clings to its empty chrysalis shell as hemolymph, the blood-like substance of insects, is pumped through its body. As the hemolymph fills the monarch's body and wings, they enlarge. Right now, this monarch is extremely vulnerable to predators because it is not yet able to fly. |
 About
one hour after emerging from its chrysalis, the monarch's wings are full-sized,
dry, and ready for flying. Here a newly emerged monarch uses it straw-like
tongue, called a proboscis, to sip nectar from Hardy Ageratum (Eupatorium
coelestinum). Four to seven days after emerging from its chrysalis, a
monarch butterfly is old enough to mate.....and so begins the life cycle of of
the next generation. |
Back to the Milkweed
Plants page.
Back to the Articles on Butterfly Gardening page.
Back to the Monarch Butterfly Rearing Kits page.
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Rose Franklin's
Perennials |
Copyright © 2001 [Rose Franklin's Perennials]. All rights reserved.
Revised: December 16, 2011