We’re going to talk about the life cycle of butterflies. All four stages of the butterflies’ life; egg, larva, pupa and butterfly. The Red Admiral butterfly will be the focus; the main butterfly here.
Butterflies are oviparous (which means they lay eggs that will hatch later on), and there are many variants as to how the eggs will look, such as color, size, and texture, all depending upon which species laid it. Eggs will be laid on the leaves or stems of plants, or on the bark of trees, depending on what the host plant of species is. One to three weeks will be taken up until the egg hatches into a caterpillar.
Once the embryo has developed fully, the caterpillar on the inside begins to eat its way out of the egg. Finally on the outside, it simply eats. It eats leaves and plants and such, usually whatever it happens to be walking on. They do this until they hit the pupal stage.
The pupal stage consists of the caterpillar spinning itself into a cocoon, in which they stay for a few weeks all the way up to a few months, depending on the species. They change drastically while inside this cocoon, although its practically undetectable from the outside.
The last stage is the butterfly stage. Butterflies still have a caterpillar-like body, wormy with tiny hairs and thin, prickly legs, along with the large, colorful, hard-to-miss wings. The majority of butterfly species only live a few weeks.
I chose to research the Red Admiral butterfly, not for any particular reason other than I like the scientific name, which is Vanessa Atalanta. It’s quite attractive, with its under-wings a mottled brown and the top is brown/black with a curved red streak.
Pellitory and False Nettle are the host plants of the Red Admiral. They lay their eggs, which are green with pale vertical lines, on these plants. When the caterpillars hatch, they make nests out of the leaves to hide inside of.
After the pupal stage, the butterfly emerges and pumps its wings, getting then circulation going and making itself stronger. After this, it expels liquid meconium (waste from the pupal stages, do not google it as the photos are a bit gross) which is red and is mistaken for blood quite often, although it isn’t at all.
The Red Admiral doesn’t feed on flowers so much as over-ripened fruit and animal waste.
Butterflies go through a life cycle consisting of the egg stage, the larva stage, the pupal stage, and the butterfly stage. The Red Admiral butterfly is a curious one, with odd feeding habits and attractive wings. Butterflies are literally childhood and laughter drifting on air, and researching them and writing about them wasn’t to terrible a task.
BIBS:
Smith, Edith. “Red Admiral Butterfly.” Butterflyfunfacts.com. Stephen & Edith Smith. Accessed 2/27/2015.
“Butterfly Life Cycle.” Butterflylifecycle.org. Accessed 2/27/2015
“Red Admiral.” Gardenswithwings.com. Accessed 2/27/2015
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