What Kind of Butterfly Comes Out of a Green Cocoon?

This monarch, like all others, emerged from a green cocoon.

A monarch butterfly, one of the prettiest in the insect world, emerges from a light green cocoon. It serves as one stage out of four of the butterfly's life cycle.

Hibernation

Monarchs hibernate in a warm climate, primarily in Mexico, for six to eight months until it is time to travel north in the spring and propagate.

Caterpillars

Monarchs lay eggs on milkweed plants. Eggs hatch into yellow, black, and white striped caterpillars, which feed on the milkweed before attaching themselves to a stem or leaf, and wrapping around themselves a green cocoon, or chrysalis.

Metamorphosis

Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar undergoes rapid change within ten days. The green chrysalis turns transparent before a butterfly emerges, flies away, and begins feeding on nectar from flowers.

Four Generations

No single individual monarch butterfly makes the entire round trip during migration. The first three monarch generations live up to six weeks before laying more eggs, but the fourth generation returns to the southeast to hibernate and perpetuate the growth cycle the following spring.

Habitat Loss

Resources necessary to sustain monarchs are dwindling in North America due to land development and herbicide use on crops. Conservation groups urge people to plant milkweed and good nectar plants, like cosmos, to aid monarch populations.

References

• MonarchButterfly.com
• Monarch Watch
• World Wildlife Federation