Gardening for Butterflies
Butterfly Life Cycle
The life of a butterfly is marked by four vastly different stages: egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult. The egg hatches into a caterpillar, which immediately feeds on the leaf of the plant where it has hatched. In fact, rapid growth is the main objective of the caterpillar stage. You can see this reflected in the caterpillar’s body structure—primarily a set of strong jaws for chewing and a digestive tract for processing food.
The caterpillar grows and molts, shedding its exoskeleton when that becomes too small. After four to six molts, the caterpillar pupates, or transforms. The new stage is termed the pupa, and the covering around the caterpillar is called a chrysalis (or cocoon, for moths). Protected inside the chrysalis, many of the caterpillar’s body structures dissolve and reform into the distinctive butterfly shape.