When metamorphosis is complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out, expands its wings to dry, and flies off. The caterpillars grow, sometimes very rapidly, and when fully developed, pupate in a chrysalis.
Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars, will feed. The oldest butterfly fossils have been dated to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago, though they may have originated earlier.īutterflies have a four-stage life cycle, as like most insects they undergo complete metamorphosis.
The group comprises the superfamilies Hedyloidea (moth-butterflies in the Americas) and Papilionoidea (all others). Butterflies ( Rhopalocera) are lepidopteran insects that have large, often brightly coloured wings, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight.
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