Thank you Flickr for 5K views on my photo of Butterfly with broken wing (s) and to be Award Winner in Explorer (01/06/2022).
I want write a bit more about this outstanding and one of nature`s most beautiful insects.
A butterfly is a flying insect with a small body and large colorful wings. Some of the gardeners plant specific flowers that attract butterflies.
When butterflies eat food, they also pollinate flowers. This is important for maintaining environmental balance. Some plants have specialized in producing a calyx that is suitable for pollination only by butterflies. The most famous product produced by butterflies is silk, which has been used for hundreds of years in the production of textiles. (example is a protein fiber produced by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori).
As butterflies grow, they undergo one seriously terrific transformation – a process known as “metamorphosis“. A female butterfly lays her eggs on leaves or stems of plants. Inside these tiny eggs, caterpillars grow.
The time it takes for the eggs to hatch can also vary – in some species, they will hatch within a few weeks and in others they will only hatch once the weather is warm enough.
Once ready, the caterpillar leaves its egg home and enters the big outside world. Fully grown, the caterpillar forms itself into a “pupa” (or chrysalis) – a kind of vessel in which the caterpillar changes into a butterfly. The “pupa” stage may last a few weeks to several months depending on the species. Once the butterfly is ready to emerge, the case around the pupa splits open. and this brilliant bug then takes to the air in search for flowers to feed on and for other butterflies to mate with. (1)
Butterflies live briefly, sometimes it is only a few days. There is even a butterfly that lives one day. However, species that live about 2-4 weeks are more common.
(1) Credit- www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/insects/butterfly-life-cycle/