Emerging From the Chrysalis

(Male Monarch)
 

Butterflies go through four life stages. The first is the egg which is laid on a host plant leaf by a gravid (pregnant) female butterfly. You can identify the female because her webbing is thicker and she has no identifying wing spot as does the male.  The female will only lay her eggs on plants that the resulting caterpillar can eat (usually a milkweed). Once the caterpillar has hatched from the egg, it will eat and grow until it reaches its full size.  At that point, it enters the third or pupal stage.  The caterpillar forms a structure called a chrysalis in which it will transform into an adult - a butterfly. This is the fourth and final stage.
 
 

(Female Monarch)
Below is a Quick Time movie of a monarch butterfly emerging from a chrysalis courtesy of The Milkweed Cafe.
 
 



 
 

Morphing
Monarchs		 Chrysalis
to Monarch		 Tiny Life Monarch
Links		 Home

Butterfly Photos courtesy of Dale A. McClung.

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