Caterpillars. During complete metamorphosis, the larvae of moths, butterflies, and a few other kinds of insect occur in the form of wormlike caterpillars.
In other words, caterpillars are the immature stage of certain kinds of insects, especially butterflies and moths. You might enjoy looking at a series of photos showing Mourning Cloak eggs and caterpillars emerging from them. The picture at the right shows a caterpillar of the Question Mark butterfly, Polygonia interrogationis, found right outside my door. One neat thing about that picture is that right below the caterpillar you can see the caterpillar's just-discarded old skin. Well, this discarded skin needs an explanation: The mother Question Mark Butterfly laid an egg, the egg hatched and a tiny caterpillar emerged. Another very common and conspicuous kind of caterpillar is shown at the right -- at least the home of a bunch of caterpillars. Insects have six legs, right? This is so interesting that we have a special Caterpillar Camouflage Page.
Caterpillar (Larva) The caterpillar is the larvae (the baby) of both a butterfly and a moth.
After around 2-3 weeks, the caterpillar builds itself into a cocoon where it remains a pupa for a further 2 weeks. The caterpillar then emerges having grown wings. The moth caterpillar is well known for being a pest particularly in the fabric industry. One species of caterpillar has destroyed reams of silk in the far east, known in China as a silk worm. Generally, most species of caterpillar are considered to be agricultural pests as they can munch their ways through fields of crops, often leaving enormous holes which result in unhealthy or inedible plants. Facts on Caterpillars. Caterpillars live for around two weeks to a month before they turn into a butterfly or moth, but some live for up to 10 months.
During this time, they grow more than 30,000 times their original size, and as they grow their exoskeleton becomes tight and so they shed their skin. This shedding process happens about four or five times, and after the last shedding the caterpillar fastens itself to a branch and enters the pupa stage, using silk from its silk glands to spin a protective cocoon. It is while inside here that the caterpillar undergoes what is called metamorphosis. During this time the caterpillar's six front legs transform into the adult insects legs and the prolegs disappear. Wings grow and the insect becomes a butterfly or moth. Kids and caterpillars. Don't get in over your head.
You can't raise them all! Stick with one or two caterpillars. The best caterpillars for kids to raise is a Monarch or a Black Swallowtail. Unless you have LOTS of milkweed to feed the Monarch caterpillars, stick to the Black Swallowtail. They eat a more common plant that's more easily acquired. Monarchs will only eat plants in the Milkweed family. In many wild places throughout the US. Black Swallowtail caterpillars eat plants in the Umbellifer family. You can use plastic 'critter holders' or aquariums. Dept. If the container is tall enough, you can set a small potted plant in the container and let the caterpillars eat directly from the plant. Your caterpillar will take about 10 - 14 days to turn into a chrysalis (from the day it hatches). Shed its skin (molt) several times during these days. You will need to provide your caterpillar the proper place to 'hang out' as a chrysalis, and different species have different needs.
Cage. Caterpillar - Animal Facts.