Butterfly

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It eats these all the time.

It first eats the leaf that it was born on. This is the eating and growing stage. A caterpillar grows really fast. This is because they eat a lot. A caterpillar is really small when it is born. It starts to grow fast. This is because it eats all the time. It grows so fast that it becomes too big for its skin. So the caterpillar has to shed its old skin. It then gets new skin. Caterpillars shed their skin four or more times while they are growing.

A caterpillar shedding its outgrown skin is called molting. Caterpillars do not stay in this stage very long. While they are in this stage, all they do is eat. Stage three is the chrysalis. This is when the caterpillar is done growing. The caterpillar makes a chrysalis. Another name for a chrysalis is a pupa. It is mostly brown or green.

Butterflies | Environment | The Guardian

It is the same color as the things around it. Things like the trees, leaves, or branches. This is so that other animals cannot see it. This keeps them from getting hurt. This is the resting stage.

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It also is the changing stage. The caterpillar starts to changes.

It starts to turn into a butterfly. It starts to look different. Its shape starts to change. It then turns into a butterfly. All this happens in the chrysalis. This does not take a long time. In stage four, the chrysalis opens.

Soon a butterfly comes out. A butterfly is sometimes called an imago. It is also called an adult. Butterflies are very colorful. When the butterfly first comes out its wings are damp. The wings are also soft. The wings are folded against its body. The butterfly is also very tired.

So the butterfly rests. Once the butterfly has rested, it will be ready to start flying. It will start to pump blood into its wings. This is to get them working and flapping. After it does this, it can now learn to fly. Butterflies cannot fly good at first. They need a lot of practice. It does not take long for them to learn. When it can fly, it will go look for food. The butterfly will also go look for a mate. It will soon find a mate. It will then lay eggs. The lifecycle will start all over again. There are four stages. The first stage is the eggs.

This is where a girl butterfly lays eggs. She lays them on a leaf. This is where the eggs hatch. It takes about five days for the eggs to hatch. A caterpillar then comes out. At this stage, the caterpillar eats all the time. It also grows really fast. Once it is all the way grown, the third stage starts. This stage is the chrysalis. The caterpillar is inside the chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis, it starts to change. It soon changes into a butterfly. Once the caterpillar has changed into a butterfly, the fourth stage starts. Simple photoreceptor cells located at the genitals are important for this and other adult behaviours.

The vast majority of butterflies have a four-stage life cycle; egg , larva caterpillar , pupa chrysalis and imago adult. In the genera Colias , Erebia , Euchloe , and Parnassius , a small number of species are known that reproduce semi-parthenogenetically ; when the female dies, a partially developed larva emerges from her abdomen. Butterfly eggs are protected by a hard-ridged outer layer of shell, called the chorion. This is lined with a thin coating of wax which prevents the egg from drying out before the larva has had time to fully develop. Each egg contains a number of tiny funnel-shaped openings at one end, called micropyles ; the purpose of these holes is to allow sperm to enter and fertilize the egg.

Butterfly eggs vary greatly in size and shape between species, but are usually upright and finely sculptured. Some species lay eggs singly, others in batches. Many females produce between one hundred and two hundred eggs. Butterfly eggs are fixed to a leaf with a special glue which hardens rapidly. As it hardens it contracts, deforming the shape of the egg. This glue is easily seen surrounding the base of every egg forming a meniscus.

The nature of the glue has been little researched but in the case of Pieris brassicae , it begins as a pale yellow granular secretion containing acidophilic proteins. This is viscous and darkens when exposed to air, becoming a water-insoluble, rubbery material which soon sets solid. Eggs are almost invariably laid on plants. Each species of butterfly has its own host plant range and while some species of butterfly are restricted to just one species of plant, others use a range of plant species, often including members of a common family.

This most likely happens when the egg overwinters before hatching and where the host plant loses its leaves in winter, as do violets in this example. The egg stage lasts a few weeks in most butterflies, but eggs laid close to winter, especially in temperate regions, go through a diapause resting stage, and the hatching may take place only in spring.

Butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, consume plant leaves and spend practically all of their time searching for and eating food. Although most caterpillars are herbivorous, a few species are predators: Spalgis epius eats scale insects , [42] while lycaenids such as Liphyra brassolis are myrmecophilous , eating ant larvae. Some larvae, especially those of the Lycaenidae , form mutual associations with ants. They communicate with the ants using vibrations that are transmitted through the substrate as well as using chemical signals.

Large blue Phengaris arion caterpillars trick Myrmica ants into taking them back to the ant colony where they feed on the ant eggs and larvae in a parasitic relationship. Caterpillars mature through a series of developmental stages known as instars. Near the end of each stage, the larva undergoes a process called apolysis , mediated by the release of a series of neurohormones.

During this phase, the cuticle , a tough outer layer made of a mixture of chitin and specialized proteins , is released from the softer epidermis beneath, and the epidermis begins to form a new cuticle. At the end of each instar, the larva moults , the old cuticle splits and the new cuticle expands, rapidly hardening and developing pigment. Caterpillars have short antennae and several simple eyes.

The mouthparts are adapted for chewing with powerful mandibles and a pair maxillae, each with a segmented palp. Adjoining these is the labium-hypopharynx which houses a tubular spinneret which is able to extrude silk. These prolegs have rings of tiny hooks called crochets that are engaged hydrostatically and help the caterpillar grip the substrate. There is also decoration in the form of hairs, wart-like protuberances, horn-like protuberances and spines.

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Internally, most of the body cavity is taken up by the gut, but there may also be large silk glands, and special glands which secrete distasteful or toxic substances. The developing wings are present in later stage instars and the gonads start development in the egg stage. When the larva is fully grown, hormones such as prothoracicotropic hormone PTTH are produced. At this point the larva stops feeding, and begins "wandering" in the quest for a suitable pupation site, often the underside of a leaf or other concealed location.

There it spins a button of silk which it uses to fasten its body to the surface and moults for a final time. While some caterpillars spin a cocoon to protect the pupa, most species do not. The naked pupa, often known as a chrysalis, usually hangs head down from the cremaster, a spiny pad at the posterior end, but in some species a silken girdle may be spun to keep the pupa in a head-up position. The structure of the transforming insect is visible from the exterior, with the wings folded flat on the ventral surface and the two halves of the proboscis, with the antennae and the legs between them.

The pupal transformation into a butterfly through metamorphosis has held great appeal to mankind. To transform from the miniature wings visible on the outside of the pupa into large structures usable for flight, the pupal wings undergo rapid mitosis and absorb a great deal of nutrients.

If one wing is surgically removed early on, the other three will grow to a larger size. In the pupa, the wing forms a structure that becomes compressed from top to bottom and pleated from proximal to distal ends as it grows, so that it can rapidly be unfolded to its full adult size. Several boundaries seen in the adult colour pattern are marked by changes in the expression of particular transcription factors in the early pupa. The reproductive stage of the insect is the winged adult or imago. The surface of both butterflies and moths is covered by scales, each of which is an outgrowth from a single epidermal cell.

The head is small and dominated by the two large compound eyes. These are capable of distinguishing flower shapes or motion but not for clearly viewing distant objects. The antennae are composed of many segments and have clubbed tips unlike moths that have tapering or feathery antennae. The sensory receptors are concentrated in the tips and can detect odours.

Taste receptors are located on the palps and on the feet. The mouthparts are adapted to sucking and the mandibles are usually reduced in size or absent. The first maxillae are elongated into a tubular proboscis which is curled up at rest and expanded when needed to feed. The first and second maxillae bear palps which function as sensory organs. Some species have a reduced proboscis or maxillary palps and do not feed as adults.

The thorax of the butterfly is devoted to locomotion. Each of the three thoracic segments has two legs among nymphalids , the first pair is reduced and the insects walk on four legs. The second and third segments of the thorax bear the wings. The leading edges of the forewings have thick veins to strengthen them, and the hindwings are smaller and more rounded and have fewer stiffening veins. The forewings and hindwings are not hooked together as they are in moths but are coordinated by the friction of their overlapping parts. The front two segments have a pair of spiracles which are used in respiration.

The abdomen consists of ten segments and contains the gut and genital organs.

The front eight segments have spiracles and the terminal segment is modified for reproduction. The male has a pair of clasping organs attached to a ring structure, and during copulation, a tubular structure is extruded and inserted into the female's vagina. A spermatophore is deposited in the female, following which the sperm make their way to a seminal receptacle where they are stored for later use.

In both sexes, the genitalia are adorned with various spines, teeth, scales and bristles, which act to prevent the butterfly from mating with an insect of another species. A newly emerged butterfly needs to spend some time inflating its wings with hemolymph and letting them dry, during which time it is extremely vulnerable to predators.

Butterflies feed primarily on nectar from flowers.

Some also derive nourishment from pollen , [54] tree sap, rotting fruit, dung, decaying flesh, and dissolved minerals in wet sand or dirt. Butterflies are important as pollinators for some species of plants. In general, they do not carry as much pollen load as bees , but they are capable of moving pollen over greater distances. Adult butterflies consume only liquids, ingested through the proboscis.

They sip water from damp patches for hydration and feed on nectar from flowers, from which they obtain sugars for energy, and sodium and other minerals vital for reproduction. Several species of butterflies need more sodium than that provided by nectar and are attracted by sodium in salt; they sometimes land on people, attracted by the salt in human sweat.

Some butterflies also visit dung, rotting fruit or carcasses to obtain minerals and nutrients. In many species, this mud-puddling behaviour is restricted to the males, and studies have suggested that the nutrients collected may be provided as a nuptial gift , along with the spermatophore, during mating. In hilltopping , males of some species seek hilltops and ridge tops, which they patrol in search for females. Since it usually occurs in species with low population density, it is assumed these landscape points are used as meeting places to find mates. Butterflies use their antennae to sense the air for wind and scents.

The antennae come in various shapes and colours; the hesperiids have a pointed angle or hook to the antennae, while most other families show knobbed antennae. The antennae are richly covered with sensory organs known as sensillae. A butterfly's sense of taste is coordinated by chemoreceptors on the tarsi , or feet, which work only on contact, and are used to determine whether an egg-laying insect's offspring will be able to feed on a leaf before eggs are laid on it.

Many species show sexual dimorphism in the patterns of UV reflective patches. Many species of butterfly maintain territories and actively chase other species or individuals that may stray into them. Some species will bask or perch on chosen perches. The flight styles of butterflies are often characteristic and some species have courtship flight displays. Some species have evolved dark wingbases to help in gathering more heat and this is especially evident in alpine forms. As in many other insects, the lift generated by butterflies is more than can be accounted for by steady-state, non-transitory aerodynamics.

Studies using Vanessa atalanta in a wind tunnel show that they use a wide variety of aerodynamic mechanisms to generate force. These include wake capture , vortices at the wing edge, rotational mechanisms and the Weis-Fogh ' clap-and-fling ' mechanism. Butterflies are able to change from one mode to another rapidly. Butterflies are threatened in their early stages by parasitoids and in all stages by predators, diseases and environmental factors. Braconid and other parasitic wasps lay their eggs in lepidopteran eggs or larvae and the wasps' parasitoid larvae devour their hosts, usually pupating inside or outside the desiccated husk.

Most wasps are very specific about their host species and some have been used as biological controls of pest butterflies like the large white butterfly. In order to control it, some pupae that had been parasitised by a chalcid wasp were imported, and natural control was thus regained. Caterpillars are also affected by a range of bacterial, viral and fungal diseases, and only a small percentage of the butterfly eggs laid ever reach adulthood.

Queen Alexandra's birdwing is the largest butterfly in the world. The species is endangered , and is one of only three 3 insects the other two being butterflies as well to be listed on Appendix I of CITES , making international trade illegal. Black grass-dart butterfly Ocybadistes knightorum is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is endemic to New South Wales. It has a very limited distribution in the Boambee area. Chemical defences are widespread and are mostly based on chemicals of plant origin.

In many cases the plants themselves evolved these toxic substances as protection against herbivores. Butterflies have evolved mechanisms to sequester these plant toxins and use them instead in their own defence. This signal is commonly mimicked by other butterflies, usually only females. A Batesian mimic imitates another species to enjoy the protection of that species' aposematism.

Camouflage is found in many butterflies. Some like the oakleaf butterfly and autumn leaf are remarkable imitations of leaves. Some female Nymphalid butterflies guard their eggs from parasitoidal wasps. The Lycaenidae have a false head consisting of eyespots and small tails false antennae to deflect attack from the more vital head region. These may also cause ambush predators such as spiders to approach from the wrong end, enabling the butterflies to detect attacks promptly.

Auditory defenses can also be used, which in the case of the Grizzled skipper refers to vibrations generated by the butterfly upon expanding its wings in an attempt to communicate with ant predators. Many tropical butterflies have seasonal forms for dry and wet seasons. Dark colours in wet-season forms may help to absorb solar radiation.

Butterflies

Butterflies without defences such as toxins or mimicry protect themselves through a flight that is more bumpy and unpredictable than in other species. It is assumed this behavior makes it more difficult for predators to catch them, and is caused by the turbulence created by the small whirlpools formed by the wings during flight. Butterflies have appeared in art from years ago in ancient Egypt. The butterfly was sometimes depicted with the maw of a jaguar , and some species were considered to be the reincarnations of the souls of dead warriors.

The close association of butterflies with fire and warfare persisted into the Aztec civilisation ; evidence of similar jaguar-butterfly images has been found among the Zapotec and Maya civilisations. Butterflies are widely used in objects of art and jewellery: The caterpillar is seated on a toadstool and is smoking a hookah ; the image can be read as showing either the forelegs of the larva, or as suggesting a face with protruding nose and chin.

Madam Butterfly is a opera by Giacomo Puccini about a romantic young Japanese bride who is deserted by her American officer husband soon after they are married. It was based on John Luther Long 's short story written in According to Lafcadio Hearn , a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead.

One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guest room and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. Large numbers of butterflies are viewed as bad omens. When Taira no Masakado was secretly preparing for his famous revolt, there appeared in Kyoto so vast a swarm of butterflies that the people were frightened—thinking the apparition to be a portent of coming evil.

A Roman sculpture depicts a butterfly exiting the mouth of a dead man, representing the Roman belief that the soul leaves through the mouth. Collecting butterflies was once a popular hobby; it has now largely been replaced by photography, recording, and rearing butterflies for release into the wild. He published the results in the folio sized handbook The Natural History of British Butterflies in Study of the structural coloration of the wing scales of swallowtail butterflies has led to the development of more efficient light-emitting diodes , [] and is inspiring nanotechnology research to produce paints that do not use toxic pigments and the development of new display technologies.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Butterfly disambiguation. A group of insects in the order Lepidoptera. Glossary of entomology terms and Comparison of butterflies and moths. Lepidoptera migration , Insect migration , and Animal navigation. Defense in insects , Anti-predator adaptation , Mimicry , and Seasonal polyphenism. Ringe, A Linguistic History of English: Oxford, , Evolution of the Insects. Geological Society of America. Retrieved 15 July Explicit use of et al. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Retrieved 8 September The Journal of Physical Chemistry.

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