 |
 |
 |
|
Monarch butterfly egg |
Small Monarch caterpillar amongst Milkweed flower |
 |
 |
 |
|
Tiny Monarch hatchling (bottom left) and full-sized
caterpillar |
Monarch
caterpillars depend on Milkweed, their only host plant, for food and
the poison that makes them taste bad to predators |
 |
 |
 |
|
Fully grown
caterpillar looking for safe place to pupate |
Monarch
caterpillar climbs rose bud |
Monarch
caterpillar falls into rose |
 |
 |
 |
|
Caterpillar rose up |
On a
rose leaf near where another is already in a chrysalis |
Preparing to pupate |
 |
 |
 |
|
The caterpillar attaches itself with strong silk to the
underside of leaf or stem and hangs in pre-pupa mode |
Pupating |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Shedding
the caterpillar skin |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
The chrysalis starts as a gem with
gold and green bands |
The hard,
polished chrysalis has small gold studs like a jewel |
The
butterfly's wing shape and veins can already be seen |
 |
 |
 |
|
The chrysalis appears to change colour as the butterfly
darkens |
Eventually the Monarch emerges |
with very crumpled wings |
 |
 |
 |
|
As the newly-emerged butterfly clings
to its chrysalis case for comfort, the body elongates |
and the
butterfly's wings fill out |
|
|
|
|
