The life cycle of insects.

We will learn about the following Insects. Butterfies Beetles Grasshoppers

The butterfly

Goes through Complete Metamorphosis The butterfly Goes through Complete Metamorphosis

Introduction: Butterflies, moths, and beetles undergo complete metamorphosis which has four stages--egg (ova,) caterpillar (larva,) chrysalis (pupa,) and imago (adult.)  Dragonflies bypass the pupae stage and undergo incomplete metamorphosis.  Grasshoppers and crickets on the other hand do not undergo metamorphosis at all.  Young grasshoppers hatch from an egg and go through several instars of feeding/molting until they eventually become adults capable of flying.

Butterfly Butterfly larvae repeat this pattern of feeding and molting until the mature fifth instars caterpillar sheds its skin one last time to form a chrysalis or pupa.  (Note:  The term "cocoon" is a chrysalis or pupa with an additional outer shell of protection spun by a moth larva prior to pupation and only applies to moths; not butterflies.)  Some butterfly pupae will emerge from their chrysalis after 1-2 weeks.  Others wait until the next year to emerge because their larval host plant cannot sustain another flight during the year in question.  When the fully grown butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, the cycle repeats itself.  

Butterfly Adult butterflies no longer "feed" as their caterpillars did.  They do not have chewing mouthparts to ingest plants.  Instead, in order to sustain themselves, they have a coiled tubular straw or "proboscis" with which they obtain only liquid nutrients from flowers, streams, and sometimes animal dung.  Adult butterflies and moths do not grow.  They will die the same size they were when they emerged from their chrysalis.  

Life cycle of a butterfly

Butterflies and Moths: Butterflies and moths go through a four-phased life cycle called complete metamorphosis or "metamorphosis."  (Contrast that to the life cycle of a dragonfly which has three stages and is called incomplete metamorphosis.)  The first stage of complete metamorphosis occurs when an adult female butterfly lays an egg or "ova" on the specific host plant for that species.  After the egg is laid, it takes, on average, five days for the ova to hatch.  The newly hatched hungry caterpillar is termed a first instar because it has not yet molted its skin.  When a first instar consumes enough food plant that its skin is too tight to support further growth, the caterpillar becomes dormant for a day or so, and then sheds its skin revealing a larger head and new skin capable of sustaining further growth.  This caterpillar is now a second instar

Beetles

Life cycle of the Beetle Beetles, like butterflies and moths, also undergo complete metamorphosis.  However, unlike lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) beetle larvae are not called caterpillars.  They're just called larvae.  Next is the life cycle of the Cottonwood leaf beetle.

Life cycle of a grasshopper

Links http://www.greenwing.org/greenwings/drbob/metamorphasis/butterfly.htm