The caterpillar crawls away from the milkweed plant in search of a safe spot to begin the pupa stage of the monarch butterfly life cycle. It uses spinnerets near its mouth to create a tiny silken pad.

The larva feeds and molts (sheds exoskeleton, or outer skin, to become larger) until it pupates. The pupa is a transitional stage to the adult where its true legs, wings, and antennae form. In the ...

A single butterfly can lay up to 150-200 eggs, and if these manage to reach the pupae stage, we are talking of over 100 pupae from just one butterfly,” says Mwamburi. Although the group’s ...

A single butterfly can lay up to 150-200 eggs, and if these manage to reach the pupae stage, we are talking of over 100 pupae from just one butterfly,” says Mwamburi. Although the group’s ...

it begins to make itself into a pupa or chrysalis. It builds itself a cocoon to hide in,but inside all sorts of changes are happening. After several days, an adult butterfly will emerge and the ...

Before development is completed, the butterfly needs to grow previously ... This is why the intermediate pupal stage intervenes. What controls when metamorphosis takes place?

Whenever I see a butterfly, it delights my soul. There is something about a butterfly flitting about in a gentle breeze that stirs within me a sense of wonder and amazement. Butterflies go through ...