How Do Butterflies Reproduce?

Before the Mating Process--Butterfly Attraction

Male and female butterflies release pheremones into the environment. When a female releases these pheremones, male butterflies can detect it from almost a mile away.

Once a male butterfly finds a female butterfly that has released pheremones, he will flap his wings extremely fast and release a cloud of tiny scales right above the female butterfly's antannae. These scales also carry pheremones, which create a sexual charge of sorts within the female butterfly. Once a female butterfly detects these pheremones, she will be ready to mate.

The Mating Process

Butterflies reproduce when they are adults. A male and a female butterfly link their abdomens tail to tail and mate facing opposite directions.

The male butterfly's sperm-producing organs are located inside of his abdomen. When the butterflies start to mate, the reproductive organs at the end of the abdomen open up and clamp the female butterfly's abdomen.

Then, the male butterfly's penis enters the female, and he deposits sperm into the female through a small pouch in her abdomen. This fertilizes the female butterfly's eggs.

Surprisingly, butterflies can fly while they are mating! However, most remain still during the reproduction process.

After Mating--Pregnancy, Birth and Growth Process

Once the female's dozens of eggs are fertilized, she lays eggs on a variety of different plants. These plants will provide food for the eggs when they become caterpillars.

Out of the nearly 100 eggs that a female butterfly can lay in her lifetime, only about 2 percent will survive as a result of naturalistic conditions and other animals. These eggs are tiny but can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the species.

The egg stage is the first stage of life for a butterfly. Once the egg hatches, a larva, or caterpillar, appears. It dines on the leaves where it hatched and builds up energy and body-building nutrients. Once the caterpillar has grown to its fullest capacity, it creates a pupa, or cocoon. Inside of the cocoon, the caterpillar's body parts dissolve and change into the body of an adult butterfly. Once the pupa has completed this process, it emerges as a butterfly and starts looking for a mate.

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