The Egg - the Birth
The embryo develops inside the egg. A typical time for this process would be from two to three weeks, however there are species that overwinter at this stage, and thus remain in this state from the summer to the following spring. The eggs vary in shape, pattern and colour, all of them carrying certain characteristics of the species in question. Once the caterpillar is fully formed, it is able to pierce the eggshell and it will eat a hole just large enough for emerging from the egg.

The Caterpillar or Larva - the Growth
This is a vital stage in the life cycle of a butterfly: this is when the growth occurs. Utilizing its food plant, the caterpillar absorbs a large quantity of food. As the caterpillars do not have elastic skin, they need to shed their skin four times. The new skin is much larger than the previous one, thus enabling the growth. As with eggs and the adult butterflies, caterpillars are unique in their appearance. This stage usually lasts from one to two months, but some species overwinter as caterpillars. The caterpillars are vulnerable to predators, and are often well-camouflaged to blend in with their food plant or habitat.

The Pupa - the Transformation
How an active caterpillar becomes a pupa with no ability to move is one of nature's great wonders. At the end of the caterpillar's final instar (an interval between the moults) there is one more skin change, in which the skin splits to reveal a wet, glistening creature that looks like a hunched-up caterpillar. In a couple of hours the pupal characters become prominent and once the outer layer dries and hardens, the pupal stage is fully formed.

Before this final transformation, the caterpillar seeks a place to pupate. Generally butterflies do not spin cocoons to protect the pupa. However, many of them use their silk for fastening themselves in a plant. The pupae are astutely camouflaged by form and colour, which protects them during this vulnerable stage. Inside the pupal, the metamorphosis takes place. From the minute initial stages of adult features, cells grow to produce the recognizable adult characters. The duration of this stage is usually about two weeks; however, some species overwinter as pupae.

The Butterfly - the Miracle: the End, the Beginning
When the metamorphosis is completed, the adult butterfly breaks the pupal case, pulls itself out and hangs upside down with its wings wet and limp. It begins immediately expanding its wings by forcefully pumping blood into the veins of its wings. Once the wings have reached their definite measurements, the butterfly lets them dry and harden up. When that is accomplished, the butterfly pumps the blood back out of its wing veins. Now the wings are light and strong, and the butterfly is ready to take a flight for the first time.

The freshly-emerged, beautiful butterfly will fly to seek nourishment and then congeners to mate with, thus creating new beauty in the world. To fulfill this task, the butterfly will have to brave the weather, the unsettled environmental conditions, and of course it has to be always wary of its predators.

Now, with this newly emerged butterfly, the cycle is to start from the very beginning...

 

Metamorphosis: the name for rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in some insects. The Butterfly Goes trhough four stages to become adult butterfly. The process can be called Metamophosis.

There are 4 Stages:

• Egg: Female Butterfies lay their eggs on plants to enable Caterpiller (later stage) to get the food from plant leafs.

• Larva: Also called Caterpillar. It emerges from egg after few days. Caterpillar spends most of its time eating.

• Pupa: The Caterpillar forms a protection shield called Pupa when it has finished growing. Most of the transformation takes place in side Pupa.

• Butterfly: When the Pupa has finished transformation the Butterfly emerges from the Pupa. The adult Butterfly lays eggs on plants after mating period.

 

How many kinds of butterflies are there?
There are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies in the world. About 725 species have occurred in North American north of Mexico, with about 575 of these occurring regularly in the lower 48 states of the United States, and with about 275 species occurring regularly in Canada. Roughly 2000 species are found in Mexico.

How many kinds of butterflies can I find near where I live?
In most parts of the United States, you can find roughly 100 species of butterflies near your home. The number is higher in the Rio Grande Valley and some parts of the West, somewhat less in New England. As one goes northward into Canada the number decreases, while as one goes southward into Mexico the number greatly increases.

How long does a butterfly live?
An adult butterfly probably has an average life-span of approximately one month. In the wild, most butterflies lives are shorter than this because of the dangers provided by predators, disease, and large objects, such as automobiles. The smallest butterflies may live only a week or so, while a few butterflies, such as Monarchs, Mourning Cloaks and tropical heliconians, can live up to nine months.

What kind of binoculars should I use for butterflying?
The most important requirement of binoculars for butterflying is that they allow you to focus on objects (butterflies) that are close to you. With most binoculars, if an object is closer than 12 feet away, the binoculars cannot focus properly on the object and it will appear fuzzy. Since you can approach butterflies very closely, we strongly recommend that you use binoculars that focus sharply on objects that under 6 feet away. Please see Binoculars for Butterflying for more information on this topic.

What is the origin of the word "butterfly."
No one really knows the origin of this word. It is possible that it arose from the butter-yellow color of common European butterflies called sulphurs.

Where do butterflies spend the night?
At night, or during inclement weather, most butterflies perch on the underside of a leaf, crawl deep between blades of grass or into a crevice in rocks, or find some other shelter, and sleep.

How do butterflies spend the winter?
In areas where temperatures drop below freezing during part of the winter, at least one stage in a butterfly species' life cycle must be resistant to freezing if the species is resident. Most butterflies that live in cold climates spend the winter as caterpillars, while almost as many spend the winter as pupas. A few species, mainly tortoiseshells (Nymphalis) and anglewings (Polygonia), spend the winter as adults, hibernating in holes in trees, in crevices in man-made structures, or in other shelters. A very few species spend the winter as eggs.

Do butterfly boxes work?
Unfortunately, no. While so-called butterfly boxes can be attractive, and do little harm, studies have shown that butterflies do not use them in any way.

What do butterflies eat?
Most adult butterflies drink nectar from flowers through their tongues, which function much like straws. A minority of butterflies almost never visits flowers, instead gaining sustenance from tree sap, rotting animal matter, and other organic material.

Butterfly caterpillars almost all eat plant matter. Mainly the caterpillars eat leaves, but some species eat seeds and seed pods while others specialize on flowers. Most species will eat only a small group of related plant species -- for example Pearl Crescent caterpillars will eat species of asters. Some species, such as Gray Hairstreaks, will eat a wide variety of plants and some will eat only a single plant species. Although they eat plants, very few butterfly caterpillars are agricultural pests and if caterpillars are destroying some of your garden plants, it is unlikely that they are butterflies (unless you planted those plants specifically to attract butterflies). The caterpillar of one North American butterfly,the Harvester, eats aphids.

Do butterflies migrate?
Yes. Many butterflies that spend the summer in temperate North America cannot survive northern winters. Each year, as the weather becomes warmer, butterflies from Mexico and the southern United States fly north to repopulate these regions. Species that move northward each year include Cloudless Sulphur, Little Yellow, Gulf Fritillary, Painted Lady, American Lady, Red Admiral, Common Buckeye, Long-tailed Skipper, Clouded Skipper, Fiery Skipper, Sachem, and Ocola Skipper. For most species these northward dispersals are gradual, but, in especially good years, one can see Painted Ladies, Cloudless Sulphurs or Clouded Skippers streaming northward along migratory routes.

For some species the reverse migration, south in the fall, is more obvious. Cloudless Sulphurs, Mourning Cloaks, Question Marks, and especially Queens and Monarchs can sometimes be found moving southward in groups of thousands. Exactly where all of these butterflies go is not known. Monarchs are the most well-known of migratory butterflies. But even here our knowledge is limited. We know that most of the Monarchs from west of the Rockiy Mountains spend the winter along the California coast while those from central North America spend the winter in roosts in the mountains of central Mexico. But what about the Monarchs from the Atlantic seaboard? Although it seems that many of them also migrate to the same Mexican mountain overwintering sites, others may travel to, and through, Florida, perhaps flying on to undiscovered sites in the Caribbean and/or the Yucatan Peninsula. On the other hand, perhaps northern Monarchs that enter the peninsula don't survive the winter and, for them, Florida is a dead end. Some Monarchs do seem to overwinter in Florida, but these may be largely members of resident, non-migratory, populations. At this point, we just don't know.

Where do butterflies lay their eggs?
Most butterflies lay their eggs on plants that will be eaten by the caterpillar, when it hatches. Some species lay their eggs on the tops of leafs, some on the bottom, some at the leaf axils, some on flowers, and some on stalks. Which species do which is not known in all cases. Watch butterflies carefully and you could make a real contribution to our knowledge.