What is the beautiful metaplasia of butterflies?

Butterflies are completely abnormal insects, which go through four stages in their life: egg, larva, pupa and adult, and the morphology of each stage is quite different.

Life cycle:

Different kinds of butterflies have different life cycles. For example, white butterflies can produce more than ten generations a year, while pink butterflies in the mountains only produce one generation a year.

Larvae feed on eggshells:

The life of a butterfly begins with an egg. The larvae just hatched from eggs will eat the eggshell first, and the larvae who have eaten the eggshell will start looking for suitable plants as food.

Feeding habits:

1. Specific or oligotrophic:

Generally speaking, larvae are phytophagous, and their food habits are often specific or oligotrophic, which means that some butterfly larvae usually only eat the leaves of one or several plants. For example, the great white butterfly only eats the leaves of climbing vines, while the red butterfly eats many leaves of Aristolochiaceae plants. The plants that the larvae like to eat are called the host plants or herbivores of the larvae.

2. Semi-carnivorous or carnivorous:

Some kinds of butterflies have changed their eating habits and become semi-carnivorous or carnivorous. For example, after the third instar, the larvae of Papilio maculata will migrate from the host plant to the ant nest to live with ants, while the larvae feed on ant larvae, which are semi-carnivorous butterflies. Butterflies, such as small gray butterflies with checkerboard or small gray butterflies with white stripes, feed on aphids from the moment they hatch.

The whole life growth process of butterflies;

Peeling:

Insects, including butterflies, have chitin exoskeletons, so every time they grow to a certain extent, the larvae have to shed the old skin that restricts their growth and replace it with a looser new skin to continue their growth. With the removal of the old skin, it sometimes takes on a brand-new look.

Peeling process:

When peeling, the old skin will crack from the back, and the new skin will slowly stretch and harden before moving. This is the most vulnerable time, so the larvae will find a suitable place to avoid the enemy's harm before peeling.

Insect age:

Larvae just hatched from eggs are called first instar larvae, and then every time they molt, they increase by one instar. After molting four times, it becomes the fifth instar larva or the last instar larva. Generally, butterfly larvae are mostly 5 instars, but a few nymphalidae larvae are 7 instars or above, while Papilionidae larvae are mostly 4 instars.

Pupation:

Mature larvae will choose a suitable place to pupate. First of all, they will use the spinneret under their heads to spit out the silk pad and stick it on their tails, and then twist their bodies to remove the old epidermis, thus forming pupae.

Appearance:

The features of adults such as compound eyes, antennae, mouthparts, feet and wings can be roughly identified from the appearance of pupa, while inside the pupa, the body tissues of larvae undergo a special reorganization process and finally emerge into beautiful butterflies.

Feathering:

When the butterfly emerges, it will first split from the back of the pupa, and then the adult will climb out of the pupa. After leaving the pupa shell, the butterfly will discharge the waste accumulated in the pupa from the end of the abdomen, and then begin to press its body into the wing vein and open its wrinkled four wings. This process is called emergence. If the wings are affected by external forces or other factors at this time, they may be deformed forever and cannot be unfolded.

Butterfly's life mission:

Task:

The most important mission of adult butterflies is courtship and spawning. Female adults suck nectar and dew with curved mouthparts, providing nutrition for the development of eggs and maintaining life. Male insects need to absorb inorganic salts to synthesize pheromones needed for courtship, so many male butterflies are often seen sucking on streams or animal droppings.

Courtship:

Usually, butterflies try to attract the opposite sex by flying and dancing at the same time. When male and female butterflies are attracted to each other, they begin to mate. The mating time of butterflies can last about twenty minutes, sometimes even as long as several hours.

Oviposition:

Usually, after mating, the female butterfly will use her antennae to detect the smell of plants to find and choose suitable plants, and then lay eggs after being confirmed by the sensory organs on her feet. Female butterflies usually lay their eggs on the upper surface, lower surface or stem of leaves, and some species lay their eggs in cracks in dormant buds or trunk of plants.

Natural enemies:

In the life cycle of butterflies, natural enemies may attack them at all stages. For example, butterfly eggs may be parasitized by parasitic bees, larvae may be preyed by parasitic bees or predatory natural enemies such as stinkbug and Mantis, pupae may be parasitized by parasitic bees and infected by microorganisms, and adults may be preyed by predatory natural enemies such as spiders and birds.

Avoid the enemy:

In order to avoid natural enemies, butterflies in different periods will also develop various tactics to avoid enemies, such as protective colors, warning colors, camouflage, mimicry, etc., all in the hope of successfully avoiding enemies. Nevertheless, not every butterfly's egg can grow into a beautiful butterfly, but it can only be achieved by avoiding many crises, which is also the natural law of maintaining ecological balance.

General description:

The life of a butterfly, whether it is an egg or a larva, a pupa or an adult, has its tasks. For example, an egg needs to hatch into a larva, the larva needs to peel and pupate, and the pupa needs to feather into an adult. Each stage is very important for an adult to mate, mate, lay eggs and reproduce the next generation in a short life.

However, in every period, there are natural enemies. For example, parasitic bees often lay eggs on butterfly eggs, larvae must rely on camouflage or thread to intimidate enemies, pupae are often infected by mold, and adults have more natural enemies. Therefore, every butterfly can grow into a beautiful butterfly only after avoiding countless crises, which is also the law of maintaining ecological balance naturally.