A butterfly is a fascinating insect that has undergone many developmental stages and physical processes that enables it to fly with its beautiful wings as amazing essence admired worldwide.
The butterfly is an insect that belongs to a group of species called Lepidoptera, which defines precisely the overall identity of the butterfly due to the presence of hundreds and even thousands of tiny scales overlapping in rows among its wings. These scales which are by nature organized in very colorful designs and patterns are the great characteristics that make each species of butterfly unique, visually appealing and quite beautiful due to its overall amazing essence that is admired worldwide.
The life cycle of a butterfly is probably the most fascinating process in the natural world, which consists of three main developmental stages, the ovum stage followed by the caterpillar and the pupa stage.
Female butterflies attach their eggs onto the leaves and stems of plants, these attached eggs are said to be in the ovum stage since they are tiny, variable in color and without a definite shape. The ovum stage is characterized as one the most sensible stage since these eggs are only attached to the stems or leaves of plants. Any harsh weather condition, intense breezes, high winds or any other intense weather act can destroy these eggs and the overall developmental stage. Human actions such as landscaping, plant or tree cutting can also destroy these eggs.
The second fundamental stage is the caterpillar or larva stage, which is the stage where the hatched egg gives birth to a worm-like insect with several legs with a very unique shape and color in its skin. The main function and purpose of the caterpillar is to eat and obtain as many nutrients as possible, this is achieved by the caterpillar extracting all the necessary nutrients from the leave or stem which it is attached. Caterpillars possess a tremendous degree of appetite and they grow in size as they eat more and more; however, only the size of the caterpillars gets expanded, its exoskeleton does not grow in size but instead gets replaced by a new skeleton in a physical process called molting. A caterpillar can undergo several molts throughout a long period of time until it advances to the next developmental stage and becomes a pupa.
Pupa or chrysalis is the third developmental stage and the final stage where the caterpillar effectively transforms itself to a butterfly. In this stage the caterpillar will attach itself to either a wall or twig or to a small stick in the woods and will split its exoskeleton to reveal the entire chrysalis. The chrysalis hangs down in a vertical position until the exoskeleton has been completely transformed. With the energy acquired in the larva stage, the pupa acquires its chrysalis shell that effectively breaks down the caterpillar’s structure and rearranges itself to develop wings, the body, antennae and legs during the adult stage. Once the chrysalis splits, the butterfly is free to emerge, fly and reproduce by laying eggs.
All these stages in the developmental process of a butterfly can take anywhere from a few days to several months depending upon the species, conditions and region of the world where the initial eggs are placed. There are over 28,000 estimated existing species of butterflies in the world, which the majority live in rainforests and tend to avoid cold weather regions by migrating. Their colors allow them to effectively attract other mates, absorb heat and blend themselves with the pollen of diverse flowers throughout their lifetime.
Butterflies activities are quite diverse, they often are seen flying around and tend to be hibernating or resting most of their time. Butterflies can also spend large periods of time migrating to other areas and feeding themselves from the pollen and nectar of specific flowers, which is the same place where they live and where their natural habitat is present.
Another fundamental activity is puddling, the process where butterflies seek cooler areas when their surroundings are too hot. Even though butterflies prefer tropical climate, they are also sensitive to extreme high or low temperatures, thereby seeking special the right temperatures when they are exposed to either two extremes.
With all of these fascinating and unique characteristics, it is very formidable to have an existing species in our natural world that represents beauty and many other favorable features. Children grow fascinated to see how a simple egg can be transformed to a caterpillar and then to a flying butterfly. The butterfly developmental processes serve as a very good lesson to teach many children around the world about the metamorphosis stages and introduce them to the natural sciences that take place on our world on a cons
tant basis. Apart from this, butterflies can remind us that there is existent beauty and many other amazing features already present in our world which gives us another positive outlook towards life and the potential to effectively appreciate these minimal but quite significant natural processes.