Butterflies

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It starts to grow fast.

This is because it eats all the time. It grows so fast that it becomes too big for its skin. So the caterpillar has to shed its old skin. It then gets new skin.

Caterpillars shed their skin four or more times while they are growing. A caterpillar shedding its outgrown skin is called molting. Caterpillars do not stay in this stage very long. While they are in this stage, all they do is eat. Stage three is the chrysalis. This is when the caterpillar is done growing.

The caterpillar makes a chrysalis. Another name for a chrysalis is a pupa.

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It is mostly brown or green. It is the same color as the things around it. Things like the trees, leaves, or branches. This is so that other animals cannot see it. This keeps them from getting hurt. This is the resting stage. It also is the changing stage.

The caterpillar starts to changes. It starts to turn into a butterfly. It starts to look different. Its shape starts to change. It then turns into a butterfly.

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All this happens in the chrysalis. This does not take a long time.

In stage four, the chrysalis opens. Soon a butterfly comes out. A butterfly is sometimes called an imago. It is also called an adult. Butterflies are very colorful.

Butterflies

When the butterfly first comes out its wings are damp. The wings are also soft. The wings are folded against its body. The butterfly is also very tired. So the butterfly rests. Once the butterfly has rested, it will be ready to start flying. It will start to pump blood into its wings. This is to get them working and flapping. After it does this, it can now learn to fly.

Butterflies cannot fly good at first. They need a lot of practice. It does not take long for them to learn. When it can fly, it will go look for food. The butterfly will also go look for a mate. It will soon find a mate. When these insects fly, the upper surface of their wings continually changes from bright blue to dull brown because the angle of the light striking the wing changes. As the butterflies move their wings up and down during flight, they seem to disappear, and then reappear a short distance away, looking like ethereal flashes of bright blue light.

Butterflies | Environment | The Guardian

The dark undersides of their wings strengthen this effect. Combined with an undulating pattern of flight, this ability to change color quickly makes them difficult for predators to pursue. The wings of butterflies and moths consist of a colorless translucent membrane covered by a layer of scales the name of the order is Lepidoptera, meaning "scaly wings".

The scales overlap like roof tiles and completely cover the membrane, appearing as dust to the naked eye. The iridescence is caused by multiple slit interference. Sunlight contains a full range of light wavelengths. Light is a wave. If the crests and the troughs of the waves are aligned, or in phase, they will cause constructive interference, and iridescence is the result.

One light wave hits the first groove, and a second light wave travels half of a wavelength to another groove, and is then reflected back in phase with the first. If the crest of one wave meets the trough of another wave out of phase , they will cancel each other out, as destructive interference occurs.

Blue light has a wavelength range from to nm. The slits in the scales of the Morpho are nm apart. Because the distance between slits corresponds to half of the wavelength of blue light, this is the wavelength that undergoes constructive interference.