Butterfly Life Cycle:
Adult Stage

The adult butterfly or moth that emerges from the pupa is completely developed except for its rumpled, moist, wings, which it immediately begins to pump up by swallowing large amounts of air to increase its blood pressure. After a few vulnerable hours (butterflies generally emerge just after dawn), the wings harden and the adult takes flight.

The adult is the final stage of the life cycle and undergoes no further growth. The chewing mouthparts of the larva are replaced with a tube-like proboscis for sipping nectar and other valuable fluids. Its major mission is to find a mate and reproduce, and it cannot waste much time because it may live only a week or two. Adults that overwinter or migrate may live several months to a year. In general, the adults' emergence and flight times are well synchronized with the seasonal availability of their larval host plants and adult nectar sources.

Butterfly Life Cycle | Previous Stage