The sequence of transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. The body of the caterpillar literally melts while it is in the cocoon, and the body of the butterfly is reshaped. However, transformation is a change that comes from within

Caterpillar

A caterpillar emerging from an egg is an important link in the life cycle of a butterfly. It is at this stage that the growth and accumulation of nutrients for the life of the insect occurs. The caterpillar is able to absorb a huge amount of food in a short time. As soon as she is born, she begins to feed - she eats the shell of the egg, then she takes on the leaves of the plant on which she sits.

The caterpillar is very picky. If she did not happen to find herself on the right plant, then she will not immediately get used to another species - she will starve, rejecting food. Usually, a butterfly lays its eggs on a certain plant, and the hatched caterpillars immediately begin to eat. They absorb a large amount of food in a short time, so they grow quickly. As the caterpillar grows, it sheds its skin. And so not many times. This is due to the fact that the skin of caterpillars is inelastic. After a “hearty dinner”, the abdomen increases, and the caterpillar becomes “cramped” in “old clothes”. It is necessary to change it, and it sheds.

The caterpillar is looking for a secluded place and attaches the abdomen to the plant with a silk thread. The skin on the front cracks, and finally, the caterpillar crawls out of the old cover in a ready-made, more spacious “new outfit”. When the skin dries up, you can eat again. For two or three weeks, the caterpillar gains weight well, sometimes several thousand times.

However, not all caterpillars grow that fast. For example, the caterpillars of the odoriferous woodworm develop within three years, and sometimes longer. They feed on wood by burrowing through tree trunks. It takes more time to grind and digest such solid food than to feed on the leaves of herbaceous plants.

Most caterpillars molt 4-5 times. After the last molt, the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis. To do this, she allocates a silk drink and attaches it to the plant, and then hangs on it in the air, catching on with her hind legs. Other caterpillars, such as tails, gird around in the middle of the body and are fixed on the plant itself. After that, the caterpillar pupates.

chrysalis

During the pupal stage, continuous changes (metamorphosis) occur. The caterpillar gradually turns into a butterfly, which is no longer concerned with food, but with the production of offspring. In the life cycle of insects, the pupa is the most vulnerable stage. In case of danger, she cannot hide, because she has neither legs nor wings. That is why it is most important for pupation to find a safe place.
Pupae that are attached to plants are almost indistinguishable from leaves and twigs in color and shape.

Many caterpillars, such as the peacock eye, spin cocoons. The caterpillar winds itself many times with a silk thread several kilometers long, while the rows of threads stick together and form a cover - a cocoon. Only in the cocoon does the caterpillar turn into a chrysalis. The pupal stage sometimes lasts several days, and sometimes three years, depending on the type of butterfly and environmental conditions: temperature and humidity.

The appearance of a butterfly

At the end of the metamorphosis, the pupal shell bursts, and a butterfly emerges from it. At first, her wings are small, as if folded. But they are flexible. Having been born, the butterfly looks for a suitable place where it would be possible to spread its wings freely.

Clinging to an empty shell of a pupa or a branch, it flutters its wings. The wings spread out and finally reach the desired size. The butterfly then dries them for several hours. Wings lose their elasticity and get stronger. Now they have gained strength and lightness, and you can make the first flight. Most butterflies emerge from pupae in the early morning, when it is still not hot and the air is moist with dew. It is much better to spread and then dry the wings at such a time than at noon when the sun is scorching.

As soon as the butterfly becomes capable of flight, it rushes in search of a partner. After mating, the female lays eggs, and the life cycle repeats from the beginning.

Everyone has seen caterpillars, many of them seem to be at least unpleasant creatures, they rightfully occupy an honorable place among pests of crops and among all sorts of filth. Meanwhile, the caterpillar is just the larva of one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet - butterflies, and we will tell about this amazing transformation.

Larval stage

Like their adult form, often the larva itself also looks quite spectacular. Horns, bright colors and various spots, hairs, spikes give them the appearance of a dangerous poisonous creature.

After its birth, this insect rushes to eat everything in its path. During this period of its existence, the larva will shed its old skin several times (about four or five times). She will eat, accumulate fat and grow, sometimes increasing in size by several thousand times, until the time comes to weave a cocoon. When that time comes, the caterpillar will go in search of a secluded corner where it can begin one of the most impressive metamorphoses in wildlife.

pupal stage

The saliva of the caterpillar contains a special secret that allows it to harden in the air, forming a silky thread. With the help of this substance, it is fixed on a branch upside down and begins to wrap itself around its thread. After the cocoon around her body is woven, she molts again this time completely, even her head falls off.

When the cocoon shell becomes hard, the pupal stage begins. The pupa is not mobile, so it is extremely important for her to remain unnoticed. Even in this dormant state, the pupae of some species are able to change in the color of the environment, take the form of leaves, as well as emit a hiss and even move. In species that do not have such skill, the pupa is also not so easy to find. Most often, the human eye perceives them as a bud on a tree.

At this stage, the process of histolysis occurs inside the solid cocoon, during which almost all caterpillar tissues are destroyed and become liquid, and new ones appear in their place. At this time, the embryos of the organs of the future butterfly are formed from the imaginal discs. On the surface, you can even discern how the wings, legs and trunk of an insect are formed. This is the very exciting moment of the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

Butterfly

When the insect is fully formed, it is time to leave the already cramped bed. By the way, the shortest life expectancy of butterflies, depending on the species and, of course, luck, ranges from a couple of hours to several days, during which time some individuals do not even have time to eat, so as not to waste time.

After the cozy cocoon is left, the butterfly sits for some time until the crumpled wings dry out and straighten out under the action of the hemolymph. The heat of this liquid makes the wings of an insect the way we are used to seeing them - solid and beautifully colored. Now they acquire their permanent color and their graceful owner is ready to find a partner and breed.

By the way, some species go through these stages, from birth to transformation into an adult winged insect, in as many as three years, like the Odorous Carpenter, which feeds on hard-to-digest food - wood.

reproduction

Having found a partner, after a successful mating, the butterfly lays eggs in order to start a new circle of life. To do this, she chooses the most suitable plant that will appeal to her future babies - caterpillars and lays eggs. The clutch can be from one hundred to one hundred thousand eggs.

When new caterpillars are born, they will start their meal from their leaf on which they were born, gradually spreading to other green parts of the plant. If their population is too large, they can become a real disaster for green spaces and crops of cereals and vegetables.

And who would have thought that such a beautiful creature as a butterfly comes from such an unattractive larva.

How a caterpillar turns into a butterfly is of interest to almost everyone. An equally intriguing question is whether all caterpillars turn into butterflies. There are 156 species in the Lepidoptera order. The history of their appearance goes back to the Jurassic era, they fluttered over the dinosaurs, and the process of their transformation has not changed at all.

Where do caterpillars come from: the life cycle of butterflies

The female lays eggs after fertilization. Under favorable conditions, a larva develops inside. The process takes from 2 to 14 days. Upon completion, they gnaw through the rim of the egg, crawl out. This is how the caterpillar appears.

The size of the larvae of the first stage is about 1 mm. They are born with a huge appetite and grow fast. As they grow older, an average of 4 molts pass, but there are species that are reborn up to 16 times. The duration of this cycle depends on the type of insect, habitat. In our area, females have time to give birth to two generations, the larva develops for about 6 weeks.

Caterpillars live under the bark of trees, in cereals, grains, under the leaves of various plants. Eat juices, gain strength. At the adult stage, the moth lives from several days to 20 days. During this time, either does not eat anything, or feeds on the nectar of plants, the juices of berries, fruits.

Interesting!

In the northern latitudes, the larva does not have time to go through a full development cycle in one summer, it remains to winter in this form, and continues development with the onset of heat. Northern species are able to withstand frost below -70 degrees Celsius. In Greenland, Canada, the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly lasts 7-14 years.

In conclusion, the larva forms a cocoon of self-produced threads, turns into a chrysalis. It clings with its paws to a tree, leaves, freezes. The most mysterious phenomenon begins - the transformation into a moth.

Conversion process

How long a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, being in a cocoon, depends on climatic conditions, the type of insect. From a few days to 14 years. Moths in our area appear on average after 15 days.

What is the name of the caterpillar transformation process - metamorphosis. To be more precise - holometamorphosis, since some parts remain from the larva. In this case, paws. Experts understand this term as a complete rebirth of forms. Just like melting a plastic bottle, they then make a glass.

In the cocoon, seemingly completely motionless, complex processes take place inside. The body splits, turns into a liquid mass with imaginal discs. To make it clearer, this is a kind of stem cells, and any organs and tissues can be formed from them.

Upon completion of the process of transformation from a caterpillar into a butterfly, the formed insect secretes a special secret, which allows splitting the walls of the cocoon. The head is shown initially, then the torso, paws. For several minutes, the newborn insect sits motionless, waiting for the wings to dry. Then he straightens them, begins to search for the opposite sex for mating.

Amazing Creatures

Not always similar, the color absolutely does not match the color of the future moth. Some larvae have similar features - spots, stains of the same color. Only specialists and obvious fans of these insects can determine from which caterpillars, which butterflies appear.

Butterfly caterpillars, photos and names are presented below.

• One of the most beautiful butterflies in our area -. The larva of this beauty is black with spikes all over its body. The change in appearance is drastic.
• Other .
• An amazing creation of Bromeia. The caterpillar looks like a stick, and the butterfly has a very interesting tree color.
• A green caterpillar with multi-colored pimples is a cecropia.
• The black swallowtail has a simply irresistible color in green and blue tones. But on the body of the caterpillar there are also yellow dots.
• Dalceride. In appearance it is not clear whether an insect or an animal will come from a larva. The appearance of the moth is no less unusual.
• Blue morpho is another creature that enchants with its appearance.
• - a butterfly, well known in our area.
• Butterfly, which is used to obtain natural silk -. She leads a sedentary lifestyle, practically does not use her wings for their intended purpose, despite the fact that their wingspan reaches 60 mm. The larva forms a cocoon of silk threads up to 1500 m long.

Do caterpillars that have managed to survive to the stage of pupation always turn into moths - yes. Reincarnation always happens. However, in nature there are other insects whose larvae look like a caterpillar, but they are called worms. At the end of the development process, they are destined to turn into beetles, bees, flies, wasps. Sawflies are very similar to butterfly larvae, they are called caterpillars.

People never cease to admire some types of butterflies, they keep them in the house, creating favorable living conditions for them.

Caterpillars can be great and easy to care for pets for all adults and children. Apart from the fact that they need to be given enough food, caterpillars require little. And the best thing is the opportunity to watch how these creatures wrap themselves in a cocoon or become a chrysalis, and after a few days or weeks magically turn into butterflies or moths. What could be better than this? Read on to learn how to properly care for a caterpillar and transform it into a butterfly.

Steps

Where to find caterpillars

Choose the right time of the year. The best time to hunt for caterpillars is spring and summer, as most butterflies lay their eggs at this time. However, some individuals (particularly hairy caterpillars) appear in autumn. Winter is the only time of the year when it is impossible to find caterpillars.

• In the wild, the survival rate of caterpillars is about 2%; this means that out of every hundred eggs laid by a butterfly, only two will survive to an adult. This is due to the large number of predators whose food is caterpillars. Thus, by adopting a caterpillar as a pet, you give it a much greater chance of survival.
• Be aware that autumn caterpillars are more likely to chrysalis all winter, so you will have to wait much longer for a butterfly to appear than spring or summer caterpillars, which can take 2-3 weeks.

1. Look for caterpillars on plants. The best place to find caterpillars is in their favorite plants, as caterpillars usually stay close to their food source. If you're not picky about the kind of caterpillar you want to take care of, you can check the leaves of any plant in your garden or park. However, if you are looking for specific caterpillars/butterflies/moths, then you will need to target specific plant species. Here are some of the more common ones:

   Order specific types of caterpillars online. If you need a particular type of caterpillar/butterfly and can't find it yourself, there is always the option of ordering from a specialized supplier online.

   Take care of the caterpillars. When you find a caterpillar, it is very important to handle it correctly. If you try to grab the caterpillar, it can catch on the surface on which it is with great force, and if you pull, you can damage the caterpillar or even tear off its legs.

   Where and how to place caterpillars

   1. Keep your caterpillar in a suitable container. Caterpillars don't need anything fancy to place them on - a 5 liter jar or aquarium is ideal. The jar or aquarium is easy to clean, and the caterpillar will be clearly visible through the walls.

      • Cover the container with gauze or mesh and secure with a rubber band for proper ventilation. Do not pierce holes in a screw cap as some sites suggest, as caterpillars may attempt to escape through these holes and injure themselves on the sharp edges.
      • If you're hosting more than one caterpillar, make sure each caterpillar has room for three times its body size to move around comfortably. This is how you avoid overcrowding.

   2. Line the bottom of the container with a paper towel or soil. It's a good idea to line the bottom of the container with paper, as it will absorb excess moisture and also collect caterpillar excrement. You can easily clean the tracked container by throwing away one paper and laying down another.

      Place a couple of sticks in the container. This is a good idea for a number of reasons:

      • First, the caterpillars will have something to climb on, which they may need to get to the food.
      • Secondly, the caterpillar may want to pupate while hanging from a branch. That is, you must check that the stick is held securely and will not fall.
      • Thirdly, when a butterfly hatches from a chrysalis, it needs to hang upside down on something in order to spread and dry its wings.

   3. Keep the container moist. Most caterpillars prefer a somewhat damp environment. The best way to achieve this is to periodically spray the container with a spray bottle.

   How to feed caterpillars

   Find a food plant for the caterpillar. The job of a caterpillar is to eat, eat, and eat, so the most important part of caring for a caterpillar is to provide it with a constant source of fresh food.

   • The first thing you should do is give the caterpillar some leaves from the plant or tree where you found it, as chances are it was its food plant.
   • Watch the caterpillar carefully to see if it eats the leaves you gave it. If yes, then congratulations, you have found her fodder plant! Now you only need to supply the caterpillar with fresh leaves until it pupates.

   1. If you don't know the host plant, experiment with different kinds of leaves. Caterpillars are very selective in their food, and each species has a limited number of plants that they feed on. In fact, most caterpillars will starve to death if given the wrong food. So if your caterpillar refuses the leaves of the plant you found it on, or if you find a caterpillar not on a plant, you will have to figure out its host plant through trial and error.

      Leaves must be fresh. Caterpillars will not eat old or dried leaves, so it is important to provide them with fresh green leaves all the time. The frequency of leaves will depend on the plant, some may last a week, others need to be renewed daily.

      Don't worry about giving the caterpillar water. Caterpillars do not need to drink; they get all the water they need from food.

      • However, if the caterpillar looks a bit desiccated, you need to increase the humidity in the container, try rinsing the leaves with water and placing them in the container without drying them out.
      • Drops of water on the leaves will provide the necessary moisture.

   The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly

   1. Don't worry if your caterpillar stops eating or becomes sluggish. Don't worry too much if the caterpillar suddenly stops eating, becomes sluggish, or starts to change color - this may be in preparation for pupation, so this is completely normal behavior.

      Make sure the chrysalis is hanging off the ground. When the caterpillar is ready, it will pupate, thereby beginning the process of turning into a butterfly. Many moth caterpillars burrow into the ground to make a cocoon, while common butterfly caterpillars turn into a chrysalis hanging above the ground.

      Clean the container and keep it moist. When the chrysalis is formed, you need to clean the container, removing food and waste. Even though the chrysalis is alive, it does not require food or water.

      Wait for the chrysalis to darken or brighten. Now you just have to wait! Some butterflies and moths appear in as little as eight days, while others may take several months or even years.

Before the appearance of a new butterfly, a certain cycle of metamorphosis takes place with a larva and a caterpillar. This is just an incredible transformation mechanism developed by nature itself. In order for a caterpillar to turn into a butterfly, it is digested using enzymes produced by hormones. Then the sleeping cells (similar to stem cells) turn into body parts of the future insect.

Before a butterfly appears, it goes through 4 stages of development.

The process can take several months:

1. Stage 1. In the first stage, the female butterfly lays eggs, so at first the butterfly is a larva. Eggs are laid on the leaf very close to each other. After about 5 days, the larvae become small and round. Then tiny worm-like creatures hatch into the light.
2. Stage 2. In the second stage, the caterpillar has a long body and looks like a worm. The newly minted insect is very hungry, so it immediately starts devouring leaves and flowers. First of all, the leaf where the creature hatched is eaten. At this stage, active growth occurs, because a lot of food is consumed. The caterpillar grows so fast that it becomes too big for its shell, so the old cover must be discarded. Then a new one appears. During the growth period, the shell is shed 4 or more times. This process is called molting. The stage does not last long, and all that the caterpillar does during this time is eat.
3. Stage 3. At the third stage of development, a pupa appears. Its color is brown or green - the color of the environment, thus, the pupa becomes invisible, which protects it from predators. This is the rest phase. The caterpillar begins to change - to turn into a butterfly. Its appearance is changing, its form is changing. Change is happening fast. Next comes the transformation into a butterfly. All metamorphoses take place inside the pupa. The process does not take much time.
4. Stage 4. At the fourth stage, the chrysalis opens, and soon a butterfly, sometimes called an imago, appears. Butterflies are very bright. At the time of hatching, the soft wings are moist and wrap around the body. Since the process of exiting the chrysalis is tedious, after birth, the butterfly lies for some time. She will start pumping blood into her wings, which should make them work (flap). Butterflies cannot fly well right away, they need practice, which does not take much time. They learn quickly. When she can fly, she will go to look for food and a companion, find him and lay her eggs. The life cycle will repeat itself.

What happens during metamorphosis

juvenile hormone delays metamorphosis at the larval stage. It works by blocking genes in imaginary discs, tiny disc-shaped sacs that fire when a caterpillar wraps itself into a chrysalis and turn into an antenna, eye, wing, or other element of a butterfly. Thus, the hormone is essential for survival until metamorphosis.

As soon as the larva has its final molt and metamorphoses begin, strange things happen to its body. Cells in the muscles, intestines and salivary glands are digested and serve as "spare parts" for the future butterfly. Every cell is programmed to self-destruct through the activation of enzymes called caspases.

The caspases are torn apart by the protein in the cells, releasing the basic material to create butterflies. If not for the juvenile hormone, this could have happened at any time, killing the insect. Instead, nature has programmed it to lower its levels at the perfect moment for metamorphosis.

With less juvenile hormone, pupation occurs instead of regular molting.

As soon as the caterpillar has dissolved all its tissues with the exception of the imaginal discs, they use the protein-rich broth surrounding them to stimulate the rapid cell division necessary to form wings, antennae, legs, eyes, sex organs, and other features of an adult butterfly or moth. For example, an imaginary disk for a fruit fly's wing may initially consist of 50 cells and increase to more than 50,000 cells by the end of metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis is not just an amazing physical transformation. This is a clear demonstration of the flow of the evolutionary mechanism. Butterflies and caterpillars are not only strikingly different in appearance, but also behave differently. The caterpillar lives on the tree, and the butterfly flutters. The first eats leaves, and the second feeds exclusively on nectar.

There are many opportunities for coexistence in an ecosystem as they do not encroach on each other's food supplies.

caterpillar food

Almost all caterpillars feed on leaves, but most of them are very picky. In fact, the insect will only eat one kind of leaf, and perhaps only from one specific tree or plant.

If the insect on the plant is what she eats, then you can start giving fresh leaves from that plant. Every 2 days it is necessary to give clean fresh leaves.

If the insect is not found on a plant- for example, on the ground or indoors - it is probably looking for a cozy place where it wants to turn into a chrysalis. So the insect has eaten. It is better to give him a "salad" of leaves collected from trees and plants nearby, the caterpillar can eat them, but if this does not happen, then it is ready to shed its shell and begin the transformation into an adult moth or butterfly.

How to grow an insect

It is possible to create an ideal habitat, but There are a few important things to consider:

1. Get a clean food container.
2. Fold up a paper towel and place it in the bottom of the container.
3. Put an ordinary dry stick or popsicle stick (or two) in the container.
4. Carefully place the caterpillar into the container. If it is on a sheet, place the sheet with it.
5. If the insect has been on the plant and is still eating, store fresh leaves in a container until pupation occurs.
6. If the insect sways, it needs to be cleaned. You may need to replace the paper towel from time to time.
7. If an insect crawls into a paper towel and disappears, it is likely to hide before pupating.
8. After it pupates, a butterfly will hatch.

The process of transformation from a larva to an adult butterfly takes a long time, and for most of this period, nothing seems to happen. It is even difficult to say whether the caterpillar is alive or not. The pupal stage can last weeks and often months - many species pupate throughout the winter and hatch the following summer.

There are about 400 species of butterflies and over 10,000 species of moths. Moths tend to be more common. For every butterfly caterpillar found, there are usually 20 moth caterpillars.

If an insect has become an immobile brown chrysalis, then all its cells turn into an adult butterfly or moth. If the insect is really dead, it will dry out and turn into a slightly shriveled "raisin", then it's time to say goodbye. But usually it's just rest and metamorphosis.