|A butterfly’s life has four stages -- egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Similar to other insects, butterfly begins its life as an egg. When a butterfly egg hatches, the young looks very different from the adult. It looks like a very small worm with short legs. It is called a caterpillar or larva.
The larva does nothing but eat. It grows bigger and bigger until it is full size. Then it enters the third stage called the pupa.
Sometimes a caterpillar spins a silk covering around itself for protection during the pupa stage. This covering is called a cocoon. When a caterpillar is in the pupa stage, a great change takes place. The worm like caterpillar turns into an adult butterfly with four large wings and six long legs. Even the mouth parts are different. The caterpillar has strong jaws for chewing leaves. But the adult has mouth parts that coil up under its head like a spring. It can extend these mouth parts into flowers to sip up the nectar.
After mating, the female butterfly lays eggs and a new butterfly life cycle begins.
Directions: Answer the following questions.