Butterfly Lifespan

Butterflies are indeed fascinating creatures. You can see butterflies drifting from a lovely blooming rose to a picturesque daylily. You might even want to catch one of these little flapping creatures and keep it in a butterfly growing kit to understand it better.

Not many among us know the answer to, How long do butterflies live? But surely, they don’t live long. Some of them manage to live for several months. Yet, they are truly delightful to look at, and any garden without fluttering butterflies is incomplete. Moreover, butterflies give hope to flowering plants for as long as there are butterflies, there is hope for the flowers. Yet, the most fascinating aspect of the butterfly lifespan is its ability to change forms, and this process is called “metamorphosis.”

Many books have been written about how butterflies metamorphose. In fact, the very first book that I read about butterflies tells about how a butterfly changes from being a creeping wormlike creature to a dazzling fluttering creature that defies gravity, and this book is titled “Hope for the Flowers.” If you are a bookworm, you might have already read this engaging bestselling book written by Trina Paulus. This book tells something about the ultimate destiny of every butterfly, not as a crawling creature, but as a ravishingly attractive fluttering creature of dazzling colors. Although not a scientific book but a philosophical book, this book tackles profound ideas about life. All of us can learn from this book and from the actual life cycle of butterflies and the butterfly lifespan.

National Geographic: Caterpillar to Butterfly

If you compare butterflies to other insects, you will quickly see that butterflies are advanced insects because they follow four distinct stages in their lifespan. A typical Monarch butterfly , for example, undergoes these four distinct stages, and in each of these stages, it sports a different body form. Each form serves a specific purpose. These four distinct stages of the butterfly’s life cycle are the egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis, and adult or Imago.

First Stage of Butterfly Lifespan — The Egg

You will often see a fully developed butterfly perched on a leaf or a flower, and if you are like most people, you will surely be awed by this creature. You might even want to touch or catch it, but be careful. The butterfly that you saw might be in the process of laying eggs.

Some butterflies only lay a single egg, while others have around 100 cute little eggs. These eggs are carefully covered with a hard outer-shell called "chorion." Moreover, these eggs are coated with a waxy and sticky substance that prevents them from immediately drying out. This waxy coating is necessary because butterfly eggs need time to become mature larvae or caterpillars and it will help the eggs stay stuck to the leaves.

How Much Time Does it Take for an Egg to Hatch?

Inside the eggs, the shapeless unadulterated cells slowly take wormlike form. If you look closely at these eggs, you will see that they have funnel-shaped holes at one end. We call these holes "micropyles." These holes are not without purpose as these holes allow sperms to enter and reach the eggs to fertilize them.

I was lucky enough once to observe a Monarch butterfly laying eggs on a milkweed plant in my backyard. And yes, out of naïve curiosity, I managed to get four eggs and place them on a leaf. I wanted to measure the span of time that the eggs would take to hatch and become larvae. So, in my curious eagerness to know, I observed it every day and learned that it took 4 to 8 days for all of the eggs to hatch . The transformation from a larva to a distinct caterpillar usually takes 3 to 8 days on average for most butterflies.

Some eggs of butterflies, however, need more time to hatch. They may take several weeks to develop and hatch. Other butterflies, on the other hand, lay their eggs before winter and undergo a resting stage during the winter. This resting stage is aptly called “egg overwintering.” These eggs only begin to hatch during the onset of spring. The Camberwell Beauty and many other species of butterflies that are native to wintery places engage in overwintering.

On your own, you can enable a butterfly egg to overwinter, and you can overwinter butterfly eggs depending on the species of the butterfly. But before you even try overwintering butterfly eggs, you need to know and consider these three factors: humidity, airflow, and protection from predators. Always remember that most eggs will readily desiccate or dry up if there is insufficient humidity in a place. Molds may form on the eggs as well if there is too much humidity. So, if you want to overwinter eggs of butterfly species like the coppers, hairstreaks, pine whites, brushfoot, and sulphurs, for example, you should utilize a wine cooler to get the right humidity. Moreover, you should ensure that the air within the container where you are going to overwinter the eggs is correctly ventilated. Lastly, you should ensure that the container is far from predators.

How Big are The Eggs of Butterflies?

Mother butterflies have the uncanny skill of camouflaging their eggs; so, you will seldom see butterfly eggs. And, of course, their eggs are very small. They are tiny compared to the sizes of the eggs of a hen, but much bigger than the egg cells of a human mother. They vary in sizes from 1 mm to 3 mm and have different shapes. If you are fortunate to see butterfly eggs, you will most likely notice that they appear upright and are delicately sculpted. Moreover, they vary in number because some types of butterflies only lay one egg, while others lay around a hundred eggs.

The Caterpillar or Larval Stage

Some people don’t like caterpillars because they’re like worms. Most people, however, think they’re cute because of their hairs and color patterns. Either way, caterpillars are very fascinating creatures. Some caterpillars have a way of communicating with ants and can even befriend them. The Lycaenidae butterflies, for example, use vibrations and chemical signals to communicate with ants. The ants then provide protection to these caterpillars while benefiting from the honeydew secretions of these crawlers.

How Long is the Larval Stage?

Caterpillars spend their time eating and devouring leaves during their larval stage because it is the stage of their most rapid growth. During this larval stage, they undergo various developmental phases known as "instars." In each of these instars, caterpillars usually molt. This molting process is the shedding of their exoskeletons that serve as their body supports and protective structures. This molting is triggered by hormones. In this process, new cuticle forms underneath the exoskeleton. Enzymes are then secreted in between the muscle layers of the caterpillars that eventually dissolve the attachments between the muscles and the exoskeletons.

Caterpillars generally undergo five instars. They also usually stay as caterpillars for a few months depending on the species of caterpillars before they enter the chrysalis and undergo the pupal stage. The Painted Lady butterfly, for example, usually stays as a caterpillar for only four weeks. But the Wooly Bear can stay as a larva for up to 14 years!

Overwintering Caterpillars

You can overwinter caterpillars by using tested overwintering techniques that satisfy the three criteria of overwintering. You can place caterpillars inside a container with airflow, moderated humidity, and protective covering from predators. Caterpillars of various types, such as those of the Red Spotted Purple, White Admiral, and Lorquin's Admiral can be overwintered. If you do it correctly, you can keep the larvae alive for up to 180 days.

The Pupal Stage or Chrysalis

This stage in the butterfly life cycle is one of the most fascinating stages. The end stage of the larval stage is characterized by real changes in the caterpillar. At this point, you will notice that the larva stops devouring leaves and begins to roam around, looking for a place to begin its pupal stage. It then searches for a safe and concealed location. By the time it finds one, it will have already started developing wing pads. Before it enters the pupal stage, the larva sheds its exoskeleton to immediately form the pupa. This naked pupa called a “Chrysalis” hangs down from what we call the “cremaster.”

The chrysalis will remain immobile all throughout the pupal stage. So, it needs to camouflage itself like a chameleon adapting its color to its surrounding. Some chrysalides (plural form of chrysalis) appear as leaves and may sport variegated colors of green, brown, yellow, silver, or gold. Some butterflies, however, such as the Blue Morphos, for example, have green chrysalides that turn partially brown and transparent right before the butterflies emerge from the chrysalides. Moreover, the chrysalides of these butterflies emit an ultrasonic sound when moved or touched, and this sound quickly wards off predators.

Inside the chrysalis, there are intensive processes that are happening. The caterpillar’s body is immediately liquefied via the action of some digestive fluids. The body is then restructured with the emergence of highly specialized cells. These formative cells begin to build new body tissues.

How Long Does a Butterfly Stay in the Chrysalis?

Some species of butterflies stay in their chrysalides from 10 to 14 days. Some, however, may stay there for months or even a year depending on what types of species they are. On average, butterflies stay in their chrysalides not longer than a month. Days before a butterfly comes out of the chrysalis, the chrysalis usually alters its color. You can also readily see these patterns and colors by simply looking at the semi-transparent chrysalis. Additionally, the chewing mouth of the caterpillar transforms into the sucking mouth of the butterfly inside the chrysalis. This is definitely an unusual transformation. Moreover, the chrysalis loses half of its original weight as this metamorphosis requires lots of energy.

Adult Butterfly or Imago

The last stage in the butterfly lifespan is the Imago or winged adult stage. This stage starts when the butterfly comes out of the chrysalis. Wet and crinkled, the butterfly slowly emerges from the chrysalis with fully developed wings. It also emerges as a sexually mature creature capable of laying eggs. It usually takes 30 minutes to 2 hours for the butterfly to fully dry itself. When fully dried, it is ready to flutter its wings and explore the horizon. Driven by instinct, this new butterfly flies around in search of a mate of a similar species. It is also attracted to the nectar of flowers and the sweetness of fruits.

The New Butterfly

The fascinating and colorful new butterfly has fully developed senses for existence in the outside world. Its surface is covered with scales that have developed from the formative epidermal cells. Its head is also equipped with two bulging eyes that are capable of distinguishing shapes of flowers and seeing motion. These eyes are made of myriads of ommatidia each equipped with its own lens. These eyes can keenly perceive colors, especially those in the violet and blue range.

If you look at a butterfly, you will also notice that it has antennae that have sensory receptors. These receptors can easily detect odors. Moreover, butterflies also have taste receptors on their feet and palps, and their mouths are specifically designed for sucking and not for chewing.

How Long Do Butterflies Live?

There are many factors that determine butterfly lifespan, and these factors can help us answer the question, How long do butterflies live? These factors include the size of the butterfly, the type of species it is, its habitat, and the time of the year when it became an adult. Larger butterflies generally live longer than smaller butterflies. But size is not a real guarantee that a butterfly will live longer.

The average butterfly lifespan is one month, although some types of butterflies, such as Monarch butterflies and Mourning Cloaks usually live up to nine months. Butterflies are also cold-blooded creatures, which means they are unable to control their body temperatures via circulation. It is especially difficult for them to stay warm during cold weather. So, if they live in places characterized by spates of cold winters, there is a strong likelihood that they will die early. You can help the butterflies survive over the winter and produce new eggs by keeping them in a butterfly growing kit. Then, when the weather warms up again, you can release them into their natural environment.