ArticlesReader.com Menu
Newest Articles
Most Viewed Articles
ArticlesReader.com RSS
Submit Article
Login
Signup
Search the articles

Articles Main Categories
Advice
Animals
Automobiles
Business
Career
Communications
Computer Programming
Computers
Entertainment
Environment
Family
Fashion
Finance
Food
Health & Medical
Home & Garden
Humor
Internet Business
Internet Marketing
Legal
Leisure & Recreation
Marketing
Other
Politics
Reference & Education
Religion
Self Improvement
Sports
Technology & Science
Travel
Writing
Subscribe
Receive alert message from us when new articles submitted to our site for free.

Enter your name

Enter your email

Syndicate

















Related Products
Home::Home & Garden

Butterfly - Life Cycle Summary

Author : T.L. McMullen
INTRODUCTION

Butterflies are beautiful insects of nature and often admired for their vibrant colors. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, they belong to the biological order of Lepidoptera, and have distinct characteristics: slender bodies, knobbed antennae, and four wings (Dictionary.com). The Lepidoptera classification order is derived from Greek origin meaning “scales” and “wings” (Jeananda Col).

Butterflies are members of the insect family and their traits include 3 pairs of legs, a segmented body, and two pairs of wings. Although they are members of the insect family, and carry the same characteristics of other insects, butterflies generally appeal to people where most insects do not (Earthlife.net).

Why are butterflies so unique? One distinguishing reason can be found by exploring a butterfly’s life cycle. Butterflies go through the process of metamorphosis: a distinct transformation from an egg to a butterfly.

LIFE STAGES OF A BUTTERFLY

As a result of metamorphosis, butterflies go through a series of four, very distinct, life-type changes.

The four stages include: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

•Egg Stage - the beginning of life for a butterfly. The egg is a product of adult reproduction and is deposited on tree leaves by a sticky hormonal substance from the adult.

•Larva Stage - typical in appearance to a caterpillar. The majority of the larva’s lifespan is spent eating and the first meal is usually it’s own eggshell. As a result of continuous consumption, the butterfly will increase several thousand times in size. It will spin a silky pad before progressing to the next phase. It is not yet mature and it is unable to reproduce at this point.

•Pupa Stage – resembles a tiny leathery pouch. A pupa is also known as a chrysalis, and is a result of “pupating”. In transforming from the larva stage, the butterfly breaks out of its exoskeleton by wiggling out of their skin. A spiny appendage appears at the bottom of the abdomen and is called the cremaster. The butterfly connects the cremaster to the silky pad and hangs there to rest. Many body parts are visible including the wings, abdomen, legs, and eyes.

•Adult Stage – known as the adult butterfly.

The time length of the development cycle of the butterfly varies from species to species and from climate to climate (Monarch Watch). There are more than 150,000 species recognized however most of these are moths.

NOTE: All visuals have been removed.


Additonal Resources

Dictionary.com “The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English
Language, Fourth Edition” Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=insect

HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) “Where Do Butterflies Come From? http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/butterfly/ 9/29/04

Jeananda Col, “All About Butterflies” http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/

Monarch Watch 9/29/04 http://www.monarchwatch.org/biology/anat3.htm

“The Lepidoptera Part 1. Butterflies” 9/29/04 http://www.earthlife.net/insects/lepidop1.html#3

About the Author

Equity Zip Financial

"No More Fret - I'm Out of Debt!"

888-300-EZIP (3947)

http://www.equityzipfinancial.com">www.equityzipfinancial.com

http://www.jamvovouchers.com">www.jamvovouchers.com

http://www.equityzip.pcphonelink.com">FREE VOIP PHONE & SERVICE

Spam emails More free articles

Related articles


  1. How To Save Your Fruit Tree Blossoms From A Spring Freeze.
  2. Planting Roses - Tips And Ideas To Ensure Beautiful Results
  3. Helpful Ideas For Designing A Flower Garden
  4. Fertilizing Your Flowers And The Importance Of Choosing The Right Flower Food
  5. Choosing The Perfect Flowers For Summer
  6. The Best Flowers For Spring
  7. The Great History Of Roses
  8. How to choose your garden furniture and make it last
  9. Garden Leaf Blower Maintenance
  10. Garden Composting Tips- The Art of Composting
  11. Types Of Lawn Mower Batteries
  12. Mulching Benefits / Organic And Inorganic Mulch Types
  13. Soil Basics - Creating Fertile, Healthy Soil
  14. Everyone Needs A Spaghetti Garden
  15. Fall Planting
  16. Soil PH And Its Effect On Your Garden
  17. Caring For Christmas Trees
  18. It's Time To Select Your Snow Blower
  19. How to make your landscape look good.
  20. Introduction to bonsai tree growing: an overview
  21. How to Grow Wildflowers
  22. Make Your Fresh Cut Roses Last Longer!
  23. Bonsai Soil And Additives
  24. Tips For Buying Lawn Tractors
  25. Gifts for the Gardener
More related feeds
LANDesk Technical Community: Asset Life Cycle Manager Trial ...
I installed the trial of landesk asset life cycle manager and process manager and I would like to know where to get the contact name and password to be able to use the product. Rick Haag Rookie. Rick Haag. 7 posts since. Dec 19, 2007 ...

CXOAG Investing Notes - The Achilles' Heel of Pre-determined ...
In summary, lifecycle investors will generally achieve greater terminal wealth using interim success-based dynamic stocks/fixed income allocation rules than using pre-determined shifts away from stocks and toward fixed income. ...

Sunnyvale Ford Service Review | Internet Marketing Fire
Full Internet Marketing Campaign Life-Cycle Management. « Sonnen Santa Rosa Sales Review. Sunnyvale Ford Service Review. I took my 1999 Ford Taurus to Sunnyvale Ford for a rebuild. I worked with Matin Kharie (Excellent! ...

H-Net Reviews
That strength is embodied in the book’s organization, which is inspired by the developmental human life cycle in its socialized forms. The first third of the book focuses on representations. By representations, Heywood means, in part, ...

The Security Development Lifecycle : BlueHat SDL Sessions Wrap-up
In addition to the presentations, we also recorded some short interviews (about 10 minutes long) with each of the speakers. If you’re just looking for a quick summary of a particular talk, these interviews are the place to start: ...

Standard Chartered Bank Chooses Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM)
Standard Chartered Bank Chooses Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) SmartStream solution will manage rapid growth in bank’s financial markets business. By Peggy Bresnick Kendler December 02, 2008. Standard Chartered Bank (Dubai) has ...

Orion Phase A Life-cycle Review Done on Incorrect Configuration ...
"The Orion Project Office (Project Office) conducted a Phase A life-cycle review with a vehicle configuration (606 vehicle) that was not at the proper maturity level to proceed to Phase B. Specifically, a required engineering design ...

ChiefTech: Book Review: Seamless Teamwork
Some of the key concepts are the Five Phases Project Life Cycle Model (on page 20) that drives the structure of the book and the Seamless Teamwork approach (on page 86), which is built around the idea that collaboration consists of: ...

Book review: Carolyn Chute's *The Beans of Egypt, Maine*
as she lived the life of anger and anguish, poverty and humiliation. Her efforts to break out of the cycle of poverty and use her writing to open the eyes of others to such American deprivation are admirable. The writing is beautiful, ...

SCL: Outsourcing: Key Points across the Project Lifecycle
It is hoped that the article can assist customers in considering the key elements of the relationship as they apply across the relationship lifecycle and, insofar as possible, to plan for and address these elements of the relationship ...

 


 

© 2007 articlesreader.com - All Rights Reserved