Small White Butterfly Life Cycle

Small White Butterfly Life Cycle

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly Life Cycle

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly Life Cycle

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly Egg

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly Larva/Caterpillar

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly Pre-pupa

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly Pupa

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly

Danaid Eggfly Butterfly Host Plant (Portulaca sp.)

Painted Lady Butterfly Life Cycle

The Painted Lady-تتلی (Vanessa cardui) is a medium size butterfly having a wing-span of about 55-60 mm, in family Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterflies or four-footed butterflies). I have already posted some pictures of Painted Lady Butterfly. Today I'm going to share the pictures of four stages of painted lady butterfly life cycle. Observing and documenting the different phases of a butterfly life cycle is really a fun.

Painted Lady Butterfly Life Cycle

Eggs

The Female painted lady butterfly lays pale green eggs on the upper surface of the host plant leaves. The eggs are laid individually and hatch in about 4 to 6 days. The host plants in our area are milk thistle, Canadian thistle and common mallow.

Painted Lady Butterfly Eggs Pictures

 Larva/Caterpillar

When the caterpillar hatches, it eats the egg shell as its first meal. Then it starts eating the leaf of host plant upon which the egg had been laid. The caterpillar passes through four different instars before pupation. This stage takes about 10 days to complete.

Painted Lady Butterfly Larva/Caterpillar Pictures

Pupa/Chrysalis

At the final molt the caterpillar crawls to a safe place and hangs upside down from a branch or leaf with the help of silken thread.  In about 24 hours the skin splits down the back and a grayish-pink color pupa/chrysalis appears, which then turns golden. On maturity the pupa become transparent and the wings of butterfly become visible. The pupa takes about 7 days to turns into a butterfly.

Painted Lady Butterfly Pupa/Chrysalis Pictures

Butterfly

When the butterfly emerges from the pupa, its wings are wet and folded. In about 10 minutes the wings open and become straight. Then it needs  about an hour more to dry and harden the wings. In drying process it does not open wings, so I had to disturbed it to take an open wings shot.

Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa cardui)

Painted Lady Butterfly Life Cycle Slideshow

Striped Pierrot Tarucus nara Life Cycle

The Striped Pierrot (Tarucus nara) is a small butterfly (wingspan: 24 - 28 mm) found in South Asia that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

Striped Pierrot (Tarucus nara) Butterfly Life Cycle

Eggs are laid singly on the young shoots of the host plants Zizyphus sp. It takes 2-3 days for the egg to hatch.

Egg

Egg

The caterpillars of this species feed on Zizyphus sp. and are attended by ants. The caterpillars occur in two colors i.e pale green and dark green. The caterpillar reach a maximum length of about 14 mm. The larva stage last for about 12 days.

Larva

Larva

On maturity the caterpillar stops eating and attache itself to a leaf head down, supported by a silken grid at the center. The pupa has a length of about 8-9mm. Like caterpillars the pupa also occur in two colors i.e pale green and dark green. On the 6th day the pupa turns transparent, revealing the new butterfly inside and after some time the adult butterfly enclosed itself. Before flight, the newly emerged butterfly takes some time to inflating its wings with blood and letting them dry.

Pupa

Pupa

Newly Emerged Butterfly

Life Cycle Of Common Grass Yellow Butterfly

The Common Grass Yellow or Large Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe) is a small butterfly (wingspan 35-40 mm) in family Pieridae, found in Pakistan. This species is very common in the Autumn (August, September and October).
The upperside of the wings is bright yellow with the fore wing having broadly black excavated border in the apex and termen and hind wing with narrow irregular border. Underside of both wings is yellow with dark brown markings and irregular shaped rings. The female is large and paler than male.
Their larvae feed on plants in the family Fabaceae, however the main host plants in our area are different species of Sesbania.

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Life Cycle

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Male

Female Ovipositing Egg

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Mating Pair

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Eggs

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Egg

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Caterpillar

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Caterpillar

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Pupa

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly Pupa

Newly Emerged Common Grass Yellow Butterfly

Newly Emerged Common Grass Yellow Butterfly