The life cycle of a butterflyThe life cycle of a butterfly is perhaps one of the most beautiful and surprising processes in nature. The four stages a butterfly goes through to become a beautiful flying insect are as interesting as the vibrant colors and patterns on the wings of various butterfly species. The four stages are as follows: the egg, the caterpillar, the pupa and the emergence of the butterfly. Each stage is vital to the development of the adult butterfly. Perhaps the most interesting piece of the complicated puzzle that is the butterfly's life cycle is the process of metamorphosis that occurs in the third phase. Similar to how a tadpole becomes a frog, a larva (caterpillar) transforms into a beautiful, brightly colored butterfly. To get started, you need to understand what a butterfly is. A butterfly is a flying insect of the Lepidoptera family which includes moths and butterflies. This classification (Lepidoptera) constitutes the second largest family within the insect family. Like all holometabolous insects, butterflies undergo a complete cycle of metamorphosis divided into four distinct phases over the course of a butterfly's life. Because the butterfly family is so large and the species are so diverse, there are some butterflies that will migrate considerable distances and there are some that have symbiotic relationships with other animals in their habitat. For example, the monarch butterfly, perhaps the most recognizable and well-known of all butterfly species, with its bright orange and black-outlined wings that look like stained glass windows, migrates to escape the cold of the United States. They manage to migrate south and west in October each year, finally arriving at...... middle of paper....... 2012. "Biology and external morphology of the immature stages of the butterfly, Diaethria candrena candrena ." Journal Of Insect Science (Online) 12, 9. MEDLINE with full text, EBSCOhost (accessed November 12, 2013). "Distinguishing Butterfly Caterpillars from Moth Caterpillars." Caterpillars in the Field and Garden: A Field Guide to the Butterfly Caterpillars of North America 2-3. Gupta, Ramesh C. 2007. Veterinary toxicology: basic and clinical principles. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007. (page 797) OTAKI, Joji M. 2009. “Analysis of Color Patterns of Parafocal Elements in Butterfly Wings.” Entomological Science 12, n. 1: 74-83. Vane-Wright, Richard Irwin, Phillip Ronald Ackery, and E. B. Ford. 1984. The biology of butterflies / edited by RI Vane-Wright and PR Ackery. np: London ; Orlando: Published for the Royal Entomological Society by Academic Press, 1984.