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butterfly
Photo by Mrs. Gray's Class, 1999
Painted Lady Butterflies
Painted Lady Butterfly Information
Painted Lady Butterfly Links
PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLY
 

Our Painted Lady Caterpillars arrived  on Friday, April 30.  They were very small.
babies
May 3
Our caterpillars have grown over the weekend.
caterpillars
May 6
The caterpillars eat all day.  They have aready shed their skin several times because they have grown so big.
caterpillars
May 10
A few of the caterpillars have gone into their chrysalis stage.  The rest of our caterpillars are huge.  Some of them are forming their "J" shape.  Then they will go into their pupa stage.
big caterpillars 
May 14
All of our caterpillars are in their chrysalises.  We have moved them to their net cage. We also gave them sugar water in case they emerge.  We are eager to see our new butterflies.
chrysalis  pupae
May 21
Our first two butterflies emerged today. The rest will probably emerge over the week-end.
butterfly
Photos by Mrs. Gray's Class, 2010
 
Painted Lady Butterfly
PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLIES
     The Painted Lady is found all over the world.  It migrates to milder climates for the winter.  It takes about 23 days to go through a complete life cycle or complete metamorphosis. 
     The Painted Lady butterfly lays eggs on plants, especially the malva plant.  The eggs are green and oval shaped.   They are about 1 mm big. 
Photo by Mrs. Gray's Class, 1999
     The larva or caterpillar eats the leaves of the malva plant, thistles, nettles, hollyhocks and sunflowers. The caterpillar is mostly black with some light spots. It continues to grow.  When it becomes too large for its skin, the skin splits up the back and the caterpillar re-emerges.  The caterpillar usually goes through four to six molts. 
Photo by Mrs. Gray's Class 1999
     When the caterpillar is ready to create its chrysalis, it crawls to a safe place and hangs upside down from a branch or leaf.  Then it spins a button of silk and attaches  its tail to this resting place.  It curls into a J shape and begins to form a chrysalis.  In about 24 hours the caterpillar's skin splits down the back and the chrysalis emerges. The chrysalis is a brown color with gold spots. In the chrysalis the caterpillar is becoming liquid and reforming itself into a butterfly. The chrysalis stage lasts for about 7 to 10 days. 
Photo by Mrs. Gray's Class, 1999
     When the chrysalis splits, it releases the butterfly.  The butterfly pumps air into its wings and fills them with blood as they unfold. The butterfly also strokes the two halves of its proboscis into a straw like tongue for feeding.  The wings dry and harden the first day.   Like other butterflies, the Painted Lady butterfly is active in the day and rests at night.  When resting the butterfly's wings are upright.  As with other butterflies, Painted Lady butterflies have thin bodies with straight, plain antennae. The top wings of the Painted Lady butterfly are orange, white, brown, and black with the bottom part of the wings being white, brown, tan, black, blue, and purple. The butterfly eats nectar or sugar water with its proboscis.   The butterfly keeps its proboscis curled back under its head unless it is eating. Its favorite flowers are asters, cosmos, thistle, and buttonbush.   The adult Painted Lady butterfly lives for about two weeks. 
Photo by Mrs. Gray's Class, 1999
 
 
Links
The Butterfly Website
http://butterflywebsite.com/
Red Admiral and Painted Lady Butterfly Page
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/homepage.html

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