DO YOU KNOW HOW IS THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY?
There are four stages in the life cycle of a butterfly, these stages include egg, larva, pupa, and adult, the entire process is called complete metamorphosis and is one of two forms that insects develop from an egg even an adult.
The first step in the butterfly cycle takes place inside the egg. This stage begins with the mating between a male and a female of the species. After a time, the eggs are deposited on a plant chosen by the female. The reason why this stage is linked to nutrition is because the caterpillar, when born, can feed on the plant where it is born.
“Personally, I love nature, the way just a small caterpillar becomes a work of art”
-Rosa Sequen, illustrator of the book “La Transformación de Pili”, a parade of nocturnal butterflies and moths from the forests and jungles of Guatemala.
A larva emerges from the egg, the caterpillar, which grows, eats and sheds its skin until a moment arrives: the caterpillar’s body shrinks and the skin opens at the nape of the neck. The caterpillar encloses itself inside a cocoon once completed, they will hang upside down from a perch on a silk thread, there it undergoes a metamorphosis, and sometime after the cocoon the butterfly emerges.
During the adult stage, the butterfly feeds on nectar and through their migration, these small insects move pollen from flowering plants helping them with the pollination process. The ideal habitat for butterflies includes warm temperatures and abundant vegetation where they obtain their resources, such as the adult monarch butterfly that feeds on the nectar of Asclepias curassavica flowers.
When laying their eggs, monarchs seek out Milkweed flowers (Asclepias curassavica), the only host plant for their caterpillar. Nectar is the essential food for adults and plants produce it to reward the work of pollination, for this reason, they are able to live in forests, jungles, savannas, mountains, so do not disturb the butterflies that are resting in the trees
Butterflies are visitors that fill our homes and gardens with joy and movement, because they teach us that we always have the opportunity to be reborn and transform ourselves, so we all have wings to reach different paths. For these reasons I love butterflies.
