Butterfly is a beautiful creature which lives in this universe. It passes several steps to be an amazing one. They called metamorphosis process. Thus, there are five stages in the life cycle of a butterfly.
The first stage is egg. Adult butterflies lay their eggs on leaves. The leaf where butterfly lays its eggs depends on the kind of butterfly itself. That is because each species of butterfly has its own host-plant. The eggs fix on the leaf because of special glue. This glue is produced in the same time when butterfly lays its eggs. It is very strong. However, the chemical formulation of this glue has not known yet. The egg stage last a week. Then it hatches, and the larva stage begins.
In larva or caterpillar stage, caterpillar spends almost of its time for eating. It eats leaves from its host-plant. The skin of caterpillar does not develop together with the body development. However, if the skin becomes tight, caterpillar do molting- changing the skin. Molting happen 4 to 6 times in caterpillar life. When larva is fully grown, hormones such as prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) are produced, and it will stop eating. It moves to a suitable pupation site, usually at the underside of leaf.
Larva transform into a pupa or chrysalis by anchoring itself to leaf and molting for the last time. From outside, pupa look like a dead thing, but inside there is a process of changing caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Pupa period occur for a week to 3 weeks depend on the species of butterfly.
Next stage is emerging from pupa. The creature which comes out called imago- adult butterfly. It cannot fly yet because its wings are wet and weak. It needs to spend one to three hours inflating its wings with blood and letting them dry.
When wings are ready to use; they have been strong and dry, a perfect adult butterfly is born. It can run its life. It is mature enough to lay its own eggs, and the cycle is repeated.
In short, the life cycle of butterfly is quite simple. There are five stages: egg, larva, pupa, imago and butterfly. As the result of these processes, a beautiful butterfly exists and decorates our world.
