A Butterfly’S Life

Butterflies start life as eggs laid on plants. The egg consists of an outer casing, or chorion, inside which is the female’s fertilized ovum. There is always a minute opening, the micropyle, which is visible as a small pit at the top of some eggs.

This structure allows the male sperm to fertilize the egg and probably allows the developing embryo to breathe. Sometimes eggs are laid singly, at other times they may be in bunches

The eggs take a variable amount of time to hatch; indeed some butterflies remain as eggs through the winter, only hatching when the warmth of spring arrives. I guess they are less likely to be eaten when very small and easy to miss. Usually it takes about 10 days for an egg to hatch. There is an easy exit for the tiny first caterpillar to escape from the confines of its egg.

These eggs hatch into very tiny caterpillars, or larva, which start eating immediately. First they eat their egg shell which is the fuel for their journey to find the food plant. It also may be the only meal they have before winter and without it, they won’t survive. Then they begin feeding on their host plant. Unlike adult butterflies which feed on nectar, caterpillars prefer the leaves of plants. At this stage, the butterfly is capable of defoliating your butterfly garden.

A caterpillar is an eating machine. It consists of a pair of jaws or mandibles for chewing plant matter followed by a long gut for digestion. It moves using three pairs of true legs (like all insects) and five further pairs of 'pro legs', sucker like structures with hooks on the end for gripping hold of the leaves and stems.
Along the side of the larva are small openings, spiracles, nine pairs in all, through which respiration occurs. A modified set of salivary glands, spinnerets, produce silk. All butterfly larvae are hairy, some quite spectacularly covered with bushes of setae, and they may well be off-putting to potential predators.
When first hatched the larva or caterpillar is very small indeed, just a few millimeters long. These first larvae look similar regardless of which species they belong to. Usually the caterpillar immediately searches out food and starts to eat, although some species over winter at this stage.
Due to the nature of the skeleton of insects they cannot grow in the same way that we do. Every so often the caterpillar sheds its skin so that it can expand and grow to a larger size. This process is known as ecdysis and each time it happens, the caterpillar moves on to a new instar. Most European species molt four times and so their final stage is usually the fifth instar.
Caterpillars feed for a large part of their time, consuming an ever increasing amount of food plant as they get rapidly larger. Some species prefer the cover of night to avoid unwanted attention, the Comma, Polygonia c-album, spends most of its time underneath leaves for the same reason. Their excrement, usually called frass, is dropped all over the place in small lumps.
Caterpillars produce a silken thread from organs beside their jaws. This is used for a variety of purposes. It gives the caterpillars a good hold on their food plant and some use it to rest between bouts of feeding.
When a caterpillar is fully grown it takes time to wander in search of a suitable pupation site. This stage is sometimes known as the pre-pupa. The larva will let all frass clear its system before pupation.
Different families pupate in different ways. A Nymphalid (left) spins a silken pad and hangs head down using its anal claspers to grip on. A Pierid (right) however spins a pad then attaches itself with head upwards, spinning a silken girdle for support.
A short while after the larva has attached itself the change to a pupa begins. It is thought a hormone is introduced into the system to begin this process.
The word chrysalis is derived from a Greek word meaning gold, referring to the color of some Nymphalid pupae, whereas pupa is the scientific word describing this stage of a butterflies life.
Once the caterpillar has transformed into a pupa a remarkable process occurs transforming the contents of the pupa into an adult butterfly. This can take as little as two weeks, but some species over-winter (hibernate) in this stage, only hatching in the warmth of spring. As the pupa is unable to avoid any potential predators they tend to be quite well camouflaged, indeed some are form under the ground.
The pupa hangs onto the silken pad using its cremaster, rather than the anal claspers of the caterpillar.
Just before the adult butterfly hatches the pupal skin becomes transparent and the wing pattern is visible inside.
The chrysalis splits to allow the adult butterfly to emerge. Much like the birthing process, the butterfly pushes itself out of its cocoon to re-enter the world as a butterfly. Its body is filled with fluid which will be pumped into the wings.
Shortly after the wings have been pumped full of fluid and dried, all the leftover products of the metamorphosis are excreted. This is normally a reddish fluid, the meconium, and has given rise to fables of showers of blood when many butterflies hatch together.
With that, the metamorphosis is complete and butterfly flies off in search of food and host plant for laying its own eggs. It’s an amazing process that says a lot about the power of life and nature.
I know you want to be able to see this process for yourself! This is probably one of the reasons why you want a butterfly garden. It’s an amazing teaching tool for children and adults alike!
So now, where do you start with your butterfly garden? With a well-thought out plan!

Also In This Category:

Butterflies
- Why Should You Attract Butterflies?
- Introduction - How To Attract Butterflies
- Plants To Attract Butterflies
- Planning Your Butterfly Garden

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