How long butterfly live

The monarchs that will migrate to Mexico do not mature completely before they migrate. Even though they look just like normal adults, they are not sexually mature. They are sort of like a juvenile, or pre-puberty, person. This happens at some point while they are developing as larvae and pupae, when they are exposed to shortening days and cooler nights. When the butterflies are exposed to lengthening days, and possibly warmer temperatures, their reproductive organs begin to mature.

I really like the 2x2x2 foot cages that Bioquip sells. Or, you could make your own cage check out the directions in our curriculum guide. We make cages in our lab from plywood and screen that work pretty well, and the directions for these are in our guide. You just need to be a little handy with a staple gun, sewing machine, and screw driver!

Monarch Butterflies. Life Cycle. Contributed by Dr. Karen Oberhauser Includes: longevity birth and growth reproduction heredity Q.

How long do adult monarchs live? How many inches are the eggs of a butterfly? They are about the size of a pinhead. How many inches is that? How many eggs do monarchs have at one time? What is the most eggs a monarch has ever laid? Do the butterflies die after they lay their eggs? How do they know which plant is a milkweed? Can a female monarch have babies without the help of the male?

No, a male and female monarch must mate before the female can lay fertile eggs. Does she lay them on any plant she finds?

If that is so, what becomes of the caterpillars? How long are the caterpillars larvae? They grow from being less than 1 centimeter cm to about 5 cm. Can you tell the difference between a male and female monarch when they are in the larval state? How do the gold spots on the chrysalis form?

Q: Does any structure of the caterpillar survive in the chrysalis? Is it a gelatinous mass? Q: Does the skin of the chrysalid play a significant role in the formation of the wings and other organs? Q: Can cold temperatures cause monarchs to emerge with deformed wings?

The lifespan of most adult butterflies is only 2 to 3 weeks, but this can vary greatly among species. It also depends on factors like the size of the butterfly, where it lives, and what time of year it hatches.

Often, the larger the butterfly, the longer it lives. An old world swallowtail female butterfly feeding on nectar. Photo by Wikipedia Commons. Also, butterflies are cold-blooded creatures, so there is another factor - the climate - that will affect how long they will live in the wild.

If the butterfly egg has been laid just before the cold weather hits, the egg will stay in egg-form until the weather warms. In this case, the overwintering butterfly could live for many months past the average life span. For butterflies living in the wild, they are also subject to predators like birds and other insects in their entire life cycle, and thus often have a shorter lifespan. Before emerging into butterflies, caterpillars will experience three life stages, the egg, the larva caterpillar , and the pupa chrysalis.

In general, it will take approximately 40 - 50 days for them to finish the complete metamorphosis. Below is a breakdown. In this stage, the caterpillars will shed their skin, also known as an exoskeleton, four or five times, and each new skin is an instar. After weeks of feasting the host plants often milkweed , the caterpillars will pupate and turn into a hard shell called a chrysalis. Yes, it is not a cocoon, which is actually formed by moths. Adult Stage: 10 - 16 days in general, and for some species of butterfly, they can live as long as 6 - 10 months.

As mentioned above, the lifespan of butterflies varies from species to species. So, we put together this list below, which contains information about the average lifespan of some common butterfly species in the United States. The longest lived adult butterflies live for nine months to a year, but the average lifespan for the majority of species is just two to four weeks. For example, monarch butterflies typically live between weeks, but it varies from generation to generation.

Some generations also migrate and hibernate, which can more than double the lifespan. Other migratory species like the painted lady live for only two weeks. Some of the longest-lived butterflies, such as the mourning cloak, spend their winters in the tropics before mating in the spring. Others, like tortoiseshells and anglewings, hibernate through cold-climate winters in the holes in trees of man-made structures. Some small species live no more than a week, while predators and other threats can significantly shorten the lifespan of others.