• The article is about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly.
• It covers all four stages of its life, including egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult.
• Each stage has specific characteristics in terms of diet, habitat, and physical appearance.

Introduction to Monarch Butterfly

The monarch butterfly is one of the most recognizable and well-known butterflies in North America. It is easily distinguished by its orange and black wings with white spots on them. This article will provide an overview of the four stages of the monarch butterfly’s lifecycle: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult. For each stage, it will discuss their specific characteristics such as diet, habitat, and physical appearance.

Egg Stage

Monarch eggs are very small – only about 0.5 mm in diameter – and yellow or white in color when first laid. The female lays her eggs one at a time on the underside of milkweed leaves which serve as food for the larvae that hatch from them. On average, it takes 4-5 days for the eggs to hatch into larvae (caterpillars).

Larva Stage

Once hatched from their eggs, monarch caterpillars feed on milkweed leaves for approximately two weeks before forming a chrysalis and entering the pupal stage. During this time they grow rapidly, shedding their skin several times as they molt into larger sizes until they reach full size at around 2 inches long with distinctive black/white/yellow stripes down their bodies.

Pupa Stage

At this stage in its life cycle, the monarch caterpillar forms a hard outer shell called a chrysalis where it remains while undergoing metamorphosis into an adult butterfly over a period of 8-15 days depending on temperature conditions during development. Within this chrysalis there are visible signs of transformation taking place inside with its wings developing under its skin until ready for emergence as an adult butterfly sometime between mid-August to mid-September depending on location/climate conditions encountered during migration southward from Canada/northern US states each year.

Adult Stage

In its final form as an adult butterfly, it can be identified by its bright orange/black coloring pattern along with white spots on top wing surfaces that help camouflage it from predators while flying through open meadows or other habitats where nectar sources can be found for feeding purposes during short periods throughout day/night cycles over summer months before returning northward again starting late August till October depending upon particular geographic area visited earlier that year while migrating southward initially after hatching earlier than spring months back up north again where new generations begin process all over once more annually each year!