Butterflies

Butterflies 

The Lifecycle of a Butterfly


Butterflies go through a life cycle. A butterfly has four stages in its life cycle. Each stage is different. Each stage also has a different goal. A butterfly becoming an adult is called metamorphosis. The life cycle process can take a month to year. It depends on the type of butterfly.

Stage 1: Eggs

In the first stage a girl butterfly lays eggs. A butterfly first starts out as an egg. A girl butterfly lays the eggs on a leaf. She lays the eggs really close together. The eggs are really small and round. About five days after the eggs are laid. A tiny worm-like creature will hatch from the egg.

Stage 2: Caterpillar (Larve)

The second stage is the caterpillar. A caterpillar is sometimes called larve. A caterpillar is a long creature. It looks like a worm. Most caterpillars have a cool pattern. This pattern has stripes or patches. The caterpillar is hungry once it has hatched. It starts to eat leaves and flowers. It eats these all the time. It first eats the leaf that it was born on. This is the eating and growing stage.

A caterpillar grows really fast. This is because they eat a lot. A caterpillar is really small when it is born. It starts to grow fast. This is because it eats all the time. It grows so fast that it becomes too big for its skin. So the caterpillar has to shed its old skin. It then gets new skin. Caterpillars shed their skin four or more times while they are growing. A caterpillar shedding its outgrown skin is called molting.

Caterpillars do not stay in this stage very long. While they are in this stage, all they do is eat.

Stage 3: Chrysalis (Pupa)

Stage three is the chrysalis. This is when the caterpillar is done growing. The caterpillar makes a chrysalis. Another name for a chrysalis is a pupa. It is mostly brown or green. It is the same color as the things around it. Things like the trees, leaves, or branches. This is so that other animals cannot see it. This protects them. This keeps them from getting hurt.

This is the resting stage. It also is the changing stage. The caterpillar starts to changes. It starts to turn into a butterfly. It starts to look different. Its shape starts to change. It changes quickly. It then turns into a butterfly. All this happens in the chrysalis. This does not take a long time.

Stage 4: Butterfly (Adult) (Imago)

In stage four, the chrysalis opens. Soon a butterfly comes out. A butterfly is sometimes called an imago. It is also called an adult. Butterflies are very colorful. When the butterfly first comes out its wings are damp. The wings are also soft. The wings are folded against its body. The butterfly is also very tired. So the butterfly rests.
Once the butterfly has rested, it will be ready to start flying. It will start to pump blood into its wings. This is to get them working and flapping. After it does this, it can now learn to fly. Butterflies cannot fly good at first. They need a lot of practice. It does not take long for them to learn. They learn fast. When it can fly, it will go look for food. The butterfly will also go look for a mate. It will soon find a mate. It will then lay eggs. The lifecycle will start all over again.

Summary

Butterflies go through a life cycle. There are four stages. The first stage is the eggs. This is where a girl butterfly lays eggs. She lays them on a leaf. The second stage is the caterpillar. This is where the eggs hatch. It takes about five days for the eggs to hatch. A caterpillar then comes out. At this stage, the caterpillar eats all the time. It also grows really fast. Once it is all the way grown, the third stage starts. This stage is the chrysalis. The caterpillar makes a chrysalis. The caterpillar is inside the chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis, it starts to change. It soon changes into a butterfly. Once the caterpillar has changed into a butterfly, the fourth stage starts. This is also that last stage in the life cycle.  The fourth stage is the butterfly. A butterfly comes out of the chrysalis. It can now learn to fly. It can also find a mate. When it finds a mate, it lays eggs. Then the lifecycle process starts all over again.

Different kinds of Butterflies

There are many different kinds of butterflies. Here are some different kinds:

Monarch:
This is the most known butterfly in North America. This butterfly has orange and black wings. In the fall they go to Mexico.

Painted Lady: 

Also called the thistle butterfly. This butterfly is everywhere in North America. The wings are orange and brown. The tips of its wings have black and white spots.

Viceroy:

This butterfly is the same color as a Monarch. But it is smaller than a monarch. This butterfly is everywhere in the United States.

Red-Spotted Purple: 

This type of butterfly has many different colors. The top of the wings are blue. There are small red and white dots on the tops of the wings. The bottoms of its wings are a red and brown color. It also has orange spots. This butterfly flies fast. It is hard to catch. They like to sit on rotting fruit. They also like to sit in gardens.

Buckeye:

This butterfly is seen in the United States. It is also in some places in Mexico. This butterfly is brown and orange. It also has patterns on its wings. These patterns look like eyes. These are used to scare off predators. This scares off other animals because it does not look like a butterfly.

Zebra Longwing:

This butterfly has black and white stripes. It also likes the warm weather. It lives in Mexico and the United States. These butterflies eat pollen. They also live longer than many other kinds of butterflies.


Fun Facts about Butterflies:

Butterflies taste with their feet.
Butterflies do not have mouths.
Butterflies need sun to fly.
Butterflies fly during the day.
Butterflies can see some colors. They can see red, yellow, and green.
Butterflies cannot fly if they are too cold. They need to be warm to fly.
Butterflies have their skeleton on the outside of their body. This is to protect them. It keeps the water inside of their body. This is good because they do not dry out.

The wings of a butterfly are transparent. The wings of a butterfly have tiny scales. These give their wings color. This is why they do not look transparent to us.

hoary edge (achalarus lyciades)

Hoary edge (achalarus lyciades)

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Achalarus
Species:	A. lyciades

Binomial name
Achalarus lyciades Geyer (1832)

Description

The wingspan of the Hoary Edge is between 4.5 and 4.9 cm long. This particular butterfly is very similar in appearance to the Epargyreus clarus but is smaller and has a longer strip of diffused silver on its wing.

Distribution

The Hoary Edge can be seen throughout the eastern United States in open woodlands, deciduous mixed forest and sandy areas.

Life cycle

There are two broods are year between April and September.

Larval Foods

• Tickseed
• Fabaceae

white-m hairstreak parrhasius m album

white-m hairstreak parrhasius m album 

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Parrhasius
Species:	P. m-album
Binomial name
Parrhasius m-album Boisduval & Leconte, 1833

The White M Hairstreak, Parrhasius m-album, is a species of butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Connecticut west to southeast Iowa and Missouri south to east Texas the Gulf Coast, and peninsular Florida. On rare occasions some stray to Michigan and Wisconsin.

The wingspan is 32–41 mm.

The larvae feed on Quercus virginiana and other Quercus species.

striped hairstreak satyrium liparops

striped hairstreak satyrium liparops

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Satyrium
Species:	S. liparops

Binomial name
Satyrium liparops

Synonyms
Thecla liparops Le Conte, [1833] Hesperia anacreon Fabricius, 1793 Thecla strigosa Harris, 1862 Thecla liparops pruina Scudder, 1889 Strymon liparops   Michener & dos Passos, 1942 Thecla strigosa var. liparops Fletcher, 1903 Thecla strigosa var. liparops Fletcher, 1904 Strymon liparops aliparops Michener & dos Passos, 1942

The Striped Hairstreak (Satyrium liparops) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in North America,  from the Rocky Mountains south from southern Canada to Colorado, east to Maine and south to Florida.

The wingspan is 25–39 mm. The hindwings have one long and one short tail. The upperside is dark brown. The males have a long, oval spot along the forewing costa. The underside of both wings has rows of widely separated white stripes and a blue spot near the tails, which is topped with orange. The outer margin of the hindwings is indented above the short tail. Adults are on wing from July to August in the north and in May in the south. There is one generation per year. Adults feed on nectar from various flowers, including chinquapin, common milkweed, dogbane, goldenrod, meadowsweet, New Jersey tea, staghorn sumac, viburnum, and white sweet clover.

The larvae feed on the plum and cherry (Prunus spp.) and hawthorns (Crataegus spp.). They feed on the buds, leaves, flowers, and young fruit of their host plant.

Oak Hairstreak Satyrium favonius

Oak Hairstreak
Satyrium favonius 

Family: Lycaenidae 

Subfamily: Theclinae

Identification: Two tails on each hindwing. Underside of hindwing gray-brown; blue tail-spot capped narrowly with orange; white-edged black W near inner margin. In peninsular Florida and along the south Atlantic coast, the hindwing has longer tails and more extensive orange and blue markings on the underside. 

Wing Span: 7/8 - 1 1/2 inches (2.2 - 3.8 cm).

Life History: Eggs are laid singly on host plant twigs and hatch the following spring. Caterpillars feed on a leaves, buds, and male catkins.

Flight: One flight from March-June.

Caterpillars   Hosts: Various oaks (Quercus species).

Adult Food: Flower nectar.

Habitat: Oak woodlands and edges, oak hammocks in the Deep South.

Range: Southern New England and the Atlantic Coast south to peninsular Florida; west to central Illinois, southeastern Colorado, and the Gulf Coast.

Conservation: Not usually required.

NCGR: G4 - Apparently secure globally, though it might be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

Management Needs: None reported.

  

   

redbanded hairstreak

Redbanded hairstreak

common name: redbanded hairstreak

scientific name: Calycopis cecrops (Fabricius) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Introduction 

The redbanded hairstreak, Calycopis cecrops (Fabricius), is a very attractive butterfly and is one of our most common hairstreaks throughout the southeastern United States in dry open woods and wooded neighborhoods.

Distribution

The redbanded hairstreak is found from Maryland to southeast Kansas to eastern Texas and throughout Florida. As a stray, it is occasionally found as far north as southern Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Description

The wingspread of the adult is 24 to 30 mm. The under surface of the wings is gray-brown with a postmedial white line edged with a bright orange to red-orange band. Each hind wing has two tails (hairstreaks) with a relatively large conspicuous eyespot on the wing margin between the bases of the tails.

Eggs are dimpled white turning to tan as hatching approaches. Larvae are brown with a median dorsal longitudinal stripe and covered with a coat of short hairs. Spiracles are conspicuous as dark submarginal spots on the prothorax and abdominal segments one through eight. Pupae are hairy and are light brown mottled with darker brown or black.

Life Cycle 

There are several flights (May-October) in the northern part of the range and year round in Florida. Adults feed on nectar and sip from mud. Males perch on vegetation to await the arrival of females for mating. As with the other hairstreak butterflies, perching adults move their hind wings up and down. The tails on the hind wings with their associated eyespots resemble a head. The movement of the tails is believed to attract a potential predator's attention to that part of the wings which then is torn away allowing the butterfly to escape. This “false head” defense has been documented to be effective against the attacks of jumping spiders (Sourakov 2013).

Eggs are laid on the undersides of dead leaves on the ground beneath the host plants. Larvae are reported to feed on dead leaves and detritus in the leaf litter. However, at least in the laboratory, they will also feed on living foliage and flowers. Reported host plants include wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera L.) sumacs (particularly winged sumac, Rhus copallinum L.), crotons and oaks. Early fourth instar larvae overwinter.

Great Purple Hairstreak – Atlides halesus

Family: Lycaenidae

Subfamily: Theclinae

Identification: Hindwing with one short and one long tail. Abdomen is blue on top, red-orange beneath. Upperside black with wide-spread iridescent blue. Underside black with iridescent gold markings near tails.

Wing Span: 1 1/4 - 2 inches (3.2 - 5.1 cm).

Life History: Males perch on treetops or other tall objects in the afternoon, watching for receptive females. Caterpillars eat leaves and male flowers of the host plant. Chrysalids hibernate in crevices at base of host tree or under loose bark.

Flight: Three flights from March-December.

Caterpillar Hosts:  Mistletoe (Phoradendron species) growing on several tree species.

Adult Food: Nectar from flowers including goldenrod, Hercules club, shepherd's needle, sweet pepperbush, and wild plum.

Habitat: Oak woods, mesquite forests, planted walnuts in agricultural or suburban areas, and mixed woods infested with mistletoe.

Range: Guatemala north to central California, east through Texas and southern Missouri to Maryland.

Conservation: Not usually required.

NCGR: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

Management Needs: None reported.