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Butterflies Back to Animals Butterflies are considered by many to be the most beautiful and interesting of insects. Many people watch and collect butterflies as a hobby. One of the most distinguishing features of butterflies are thier bright and colorful wings of many different patterns. There are around 18,000 species of butterflies. They are found throughout the world. Stages of Life of a Butterfly The butterfly has a very interesting life cycle that includes four stages: 1) Egg - Butterflies are born from eggs. The eggs are attached to a leaf of a plant with a special type of glue. The butterfly egg stage usually only lasts for a couple of weeks. 2) Larva or Caterpiller - When the butterfly egg hatches, out comes a caterpillar. Caterpillars are long multi-legged insects that make up the larva stage. They mostly eat plants. 3) Pupa - The third stage of the Butterfly lifecycle is called the Pupa. The larva (caterpiller) attaches itself to a something (usually the underside of a leaf). At this point the caterpiller moults one last time and undergoes metamorphasis into a full butterfly. When the butterfly first comes out of the pupal stage it can't fly. It takes some times for the butterfly to unfold its wings so it can fly. 4) Adult Butterfly or Imago - The final stage is the full winged flying butterfly. It is often thought that this last stage of life for a butterfly is very short. The length of life for the final stage is varied, however. Depending on the species, butterflies can live for one week to up to a year. The adult butterfly has four wings that are covered with tiny scales that give them their colorful and diverse designs. They have six legs, antenna, head, compound eyes, a thorax, and an abdomen. They can sense the air for nector and other scents with their antennas. Butterflies also have fairly good eye sight. Butterflies play an important part in ecology as pollinators. Adult butterflies eat only liquids like pollen, fruit juice, and tree sap, but they mostly live off of nectar from flowers. Some butterflies will migrate over long distances. The Monarch Butterfly, for example, will migrate up to 2500 miles from Mexico to North America. For more about Butterflies: Butterflies - Encyclopedia Junior - All sorts of info on Butterflies for kids. Back to Animals

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