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•The monarch butterfly is seen in our area from May until October.•Its life cycle is about 4 – 6 weeks.•Female monarchs each lay hundreds of eggs during this time.•Monarchs only lay their eggs on the milkweed plant. •Monarchs only lay 1 egg per leaf.
•The egg of a monarch is placed under the milkweed leaf to keep it safe from predators & weather.
•It is a cream color.
•It is igloo-shaped.
•There are vertical lines that go up & down the sides of the egg.
•Soon the creamy egg turns grey as the caterpillar inside develops a black head.•The caterpillar will hatch in 3 – 6 days.
•The caterpillar chews its way out of its shell. This is its 1st meal.•The baby caterpillar is about 1/16 of an inch.•After 6 hours, it begins to develop its black, yellow, & white stripes.
•As the monarch caterpillar grows, its skin becomes too tight & must be shed.•Each stage after a shed is called an instar.•Monarchs go through 5 sheds.•After the sheds, monarchs eat their skins.
Getting Ready for Metamorphosis•After the 4th instar, the monarch caterpillar begins to wander. This is called “a walk-about”.•It uses its spinneret to squeeze out a silk trail to crawl along.
•When it finds the perfect spot, the monarch caterpillar weaves a silky clump, or button, to which it will attach itself during its last stage of being a caterpillar.•After the button is made, the monarch will attach itself by using the cremaster to hook onto it.
•The monarch begins to wiggle & its skin begins to split.
• The monarch is now in the pupa stage.
•This lasts about 14 days.
•The monarch is now a chrysalis.
•The chrysalis is the hard, clear outer shell.•Inside, the monarch breaks down into a soupy mixture.•It reforms into an orange & black butterfly.•This magical change is called metamorphosis.
•When the butterfly is ready to emerge from the chrysalis, it releases a liquid that loosens it from the shell.•Then its middle swells & pops the shell.•The butterfly emerges & hangs onto the chrysalis.
•The monarch pumps the liquid from its abdomen into its wings.•It takes about 30 minutes for the wings to reach their full size.