The monarch butterfly is a beautiful and colorful creature, but it takes a while to reach that part of its adult life.

A chrysalis, by the way, is a term used only for butterflies. If it’s another insect, it’s called a pupa. Inside the chrysalis, some parts of the caterpillar literally dissolve.

Watching a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis is enough to evoke wonder even from the most world-weary of souls. But rarely do we get to see behind the scenes of the pupa’s transformation. Current ...

The stages of butterfly development are egg, larvae (or caterpillar), chrysalis or pupa, and adult. This is where the next step for creating a pollinator-friendly habitat comes into play.

It took about 2 1/2 minutes for the creature's molecules to liquefy and reformulate into a butterfly still encapsulated in its cocoon.

PROBLEM I have an Eastern Black Swallowtail chrysalis that is not attached to a twig or stick. ... If your pupa fell while it was soft, it may be damaged and not transform correctly.

A chrysalis needs to be perfect when a caterpillar or silkworm prepares to transform from pupae to winged adults. Since the insect can’t emerge until it has completely matured, any overlooked ...

A butterfly pupa might look like a cocoon, but it’s different. “Many butterflies have what we call a naked pupa or chrysalis,” Felsot said. “The wings, mouthparts and antennae are glued to ...

Now, a team of researchers at MIT have captured on video the unique structural growth of butterfly wings—continuously, as a butterfly develops inside its chrysalis—for the very first time.

A butterfly is just one of the creatures that might end up emerging from a chrysalis or a pupa. Butterflies and caterpillars frequently host parasitoids, insects that attack and destroy their hosts, ...