let’s start here
Eggs are laid on plants by the adult female butterfly. These plants will then become the food for the hatching caterpillars.
Eggs can be laid from spring, summer or fall. This depends on the species of butterfly. Females lay a lot of eggs at once so that at least some of them survive.
Butterfly eggs can be very small.
The next stage is the larva. This is also called a caterpillar if the insect is a butterfly or a moth.
The job of the caterpillar is to eat and eat and eat. As the caterpillar grows it splits its skin and sheds it about 4 or 5 times. Food eaten at this time is stored and used later as an adult.
Caterpillars can grow 100 times their size during this stage.
When the caterpillar is full grown and stops eating, it becomes a pupa. The pupa of butterflies is also called a chrysalis.
Depending on the species, the pupa may suspended under a branch, hidden in leaves or buried underground. The pupa of many moths is protected inside a coccoon of silk.
The adult stage is what most people think of when they think of butterflies. They look very different from the larva. The adults have long legs, long antennae, and compound eyes. They can also fly by using their large and colorful wings. The one thing they can't do is grow.
The caterpillar's job was to eat. The adult's job is to mate and lay eggs. Some species of adult butterflies get energy by feeding on nectar from flowers but many species don't feed at all.
a butterfly!