Process Summary: The Life Cycle Of A Monarch Butterfly
Yichen Zhang
Process Paper ESOL 0383
The life cycle of a monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly is a very popular kind of butterfly in the America. They are famous for their beautiful wings, long distance migration, and other things. They play an important role of the ecological system in America. The monarchs also have an impressive life cycle, just as their relative butterflies do. The process of the monarch’s life cycle begins with an egg and goes through four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult butterfly.
The first stage of monarch’s life cycle is egg stage. The egg is laid on the underside of a milkweed leaf which the exclusive food of young monarchs. Once the egg is laid, the young monarch, called larva, grows up inside the egg. When the egg hatches, the larva comes out and starts to eat outside the shell. The first meal of the newborn larva is its egg, and then it begins to eat the milkweed leaves next to it.
After the larva comes out of the egg, it enters into larva phase. The larva eats leaves and grows up constantly in this stage. Because its skin cannot grow with its body, the growing larva has to change its skin in order to meet the new size of it. We call …show more content…
This stage is the most dramatic step of the whole life cycle of the monarch. After the larva has found a right place, it starts the last molting. The larva hangs itself upside down on a branch or a leaf and raises its head to become a “J-shape”. At the same time that the larva makes that structure, the last time molting has been done. And then the larva releases silk to cover itself and becomes a green pupa hanging on a branch or a leaf. The larva completely transforms inside the pupa. This stage takes a week and the pupa becomes dark from green. Beside the change of pupa’s color, it seems nothing is happening with the monarch. However, the final shape of the monarch is forming inside the
Process Paper ESOL 0383
The life cycle of a monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly is a very popular kind of butterfly in the America. They are famous for their beautiful wings, long distance migration, and other things. They play an important role of the ecological system in America. The monarchs also have an impressive life cycle, just as their relative butterflies do. The process of the monarch’s life cycle begins with an egg and goes through four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult butterfly.
The first stage of monarch’s life cycle is egg stage. The egg is laid on the underside of a milkweed leaf which the exclusive food of young monarchs. Once the egg is laid, the young monarch, called larva, grows up inside the egg. When the egg hatches, the larva comes out and starts to eat outside the shell. The first meal of the newborn larva is its egg, and then it begins to eat the milkweed leaves next to it.
After the larva comes out of the egg, it enters into larva phase. The larva eats leaves and grows up constantly in this stage. Because its skin cannot grow with its body, the growing larva has to change its skin in order to meet the new size of it. We call …show more content…
This stage is the most dramatic step of the whole life cycle of the monarch. After the larva has found a right place, it starts the last molting. The larva hangs itself upside down on a branch or a leaf and raises its head to become a “J-shape”. At the same time that the larva makes that structure, the last time molting has been done. And then the larva releases silk to cover itself and becomes a green pupa hanging on a branch or a leaf. The larva completely transforms inside the pupa. This stage takes a week and the pupa becomes dark from green. Beside the change of pupa’s color, it seems nothing is happening with the monarch. However, the final shape of the monarch is forming inside the