Butterfly & Nature Photography by Silvia Reiche
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Metamorphosis - Emergence - Life-cycle

During its life a butterfly passes through four stages, from egg (ovum) to caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa) and butterfly (imago), each stage undergoing a complete metamorphosis. Although some butterfly species pass the winter in the egg stage, the majority of eggs hatch within days after being laid. The caterpillar is a remarkable eating machine and rapidly puts on weight; as the skin cannot grow with the caterpillar, the skin-changing process will take place four or five times. When a caterpillar is fully grown it prepares to turn into a pupa or chrysalis. It stops feeding and searches for a suitable place for the transformation. Some caterpillars wander a considerable distance from their foodplant before settling down to pupate. Some species pass the winter in the pupal stage and do not emerge for nine or ten months; others emerge within two or three weeks, depending on temperature.
The emergence of the adult is often heralded by the appearance of the wing colours through the skin. Male butterflies usually emerge from their pupae a few days earlier than females; they are ready to mate as soon as the females emerge.

My first metamorphosis

In 1999 I found three pupae on nettles of the Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album). When the wing colours appeared I took a chair (of course together with my camera) and started waiting..... I sat the whole day in front of these pupae but nothing happened. Than inside the phone was ringing.....when I returned a few minutes later two butterflies were hanging on the pupae. That was my lesson for the future....no, unfortunately I did not invent the mobile phone.

Since that day I spent a lot of time waiting, waiting and waiting to catch the transformation process with my camera.

Click on a photo:

Picture
Spotted Fritillary
(Melitaea didyma)
Picture
Large White
(Pieris brassicae)
Picture
Red Admiral
(Vanessa atalanta)
Picture
Black-veined White
(Aporia crataegi)
Picture
Map Butterfly
(Araschnia levana)
Picture
Swallowtail
(Papilio machaon)
Picture
Peacock
(Inachis io)
Picture
Orange-tip
(Anthocharis cardamines)
Picture
Brimstone
(Gonepteryx rhamni)
Picture
 Portuguese Dappled White 
(Euchloe tagis)
Picture
Small Tortoiseshell
(Aglais urticae)
Picture
Camberwell Beauty
(Nymphalis antiopa)

Picture
Painted Lady
(Vanessa cardui)
Picture
Queen of Spain Fritillary
(Issoria lathonia)

Picture
Comma Butterfly
(Polygonia C-album)
© 1997 - 2023 Silvia Reiche All Rights Reserved. 
No image from this site is to be downloaded, copied, duplicated, sampled, modified or redistributed!
  • Home
    • Update News
  • About
    • Biography
    • Photography
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Butterfly Gallery
    • Hesperiidae >
      • Chequered Skipper
      • Dingy Skipper
      • Essex Skipper
      • Grizzled Skipper
      • Large Chequered Skipper
      • Large Skipper
      • Mallow Skipper
      • Red-underwing Skipper
      • Silver-spotted Skipper
      • Small Skipper
    • Papilionidae >
      • Apollo
      • Clouded Apollo
      • Scarce Swallowtail
      • Swallowtail
      • Southern Swallowtail
      • Southern Festoon
      • Spanish Festoon
    • Pieridae >
      • Black-veined White
      • Green-veined White
      • Large White
      • Wood White
      • Small White
      • Orange-tip
      • Portuguese Dappled White
      • Provence Orange-tip
      • Western Dappled White
      • Brimstone
      • Cleopatra
      • Clouded Yellow
      • Pale Clouded Yellow
      • Berger's Clouded Yellow
      • Mountain Clouded Yellow
    • Lycaenidae >
      • Black Hairstreak
      • Brown Hairstreak
      • False Ilex Hairstreak
      • Green Hairstreak
      • Ilex Hairstreak
      • Purple Hairstreak
      • Sloe Hairstreak
      • White-letter Hairstreak
      • Large Copper
      • Purple-edged Copper
      • Purple-shot Copper
      • Scarce Copper
      • Small Copper
      • Sooty Copper
      • Violet Copper
      • Adonis Blue
      • Alcon Blue
      • Alpine Blue
      • Amanda's Blue
      • Baton Blue
      • Brown Argus
      • Chalkhill Blue
      • Chequered Blue
      • Common Blue
      • Cranberry Blue
      • Damon Blue
      • Dusky Large Blue
      • Escher's Blue
      • Geranium Argus
      • Glandon Blue
      • Green-underside Blue
      • Holly Blue
      • Idas Blue
      • Large Blue
      • Mazarine Blue
      • Mountain Alcon Blue
      • Northern Brown Argus
      • Piedmont anomalous Blue
      • Provence Chalkhill Blue
      • Reverdin's Blue
      • Ripart's anomalous Blue
      • Scarce Large Blue
      • Silver-studded Blue
      • Silvery Argus
      • Small Blue
      • Short-tailed Blue
      • Turquoise Blue
      • Duke of Burgundy
    • Nymphalidae >
      • Purple Emperor
      • Lesser Purple Emperor
      • White Admiral
      • Southern White Admiral
      • Hungarian Glider
      • Camberwell Beauty
      • Comma Butterfly
      • Large Tortoiseshell
      • Map Butterfly
      • Painted Lady
      • Peacock
      • Red Admiral
      • Small Tortoiseshell
      • Assmann's Fritillary
      • Bog Fritillary
      • Cardinal
      • Cranberry Fritillary
      • Dark Green Fritillary
      • False Heath Fritillary
      • Glanville Fritillary
      • Grisons Fritillary
      • Heath Fritillary
      • High Brown Fritillary
      • Knapweed Fritillary
      • Lesser Marbled Fritillary
      • Marbled Fritillary
      • Marsh Fritillary
      • Meadow Fritillary
      • Mountain Fritillary
      • Nickerl's Fritillary
      • Niobe Fritillary
      • Pearl-bordered Fritillary
      • Queen of Spain Fritillary
      • Shepard's Fritillary
      • Silver-washed Fritillary
      • Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary
      • Spotted Fritillary
      • Titania's Fritillary
      • Twin-Spot Fritillary
      • Weaver's Fritillary
    • Satyridae >
      • Alpine Heath
      • Arran Brown
      • Chestnut Heath
      • Dusky Heath
      • Gatekeeper
      • Great Banded Grayling
      • Large Ringlet
      • Large Wall Brown
      • Marbled White
      • Meadow Brown
      • Pearly Heath
      • Ringlet
      • Small Heath
      • Southern Grayling
      • Speckled Wood
      • Wall Brown
      • Woodland Grayling
      • Woodland Ringlet
    • Metamorphosises >
      • Spotted Fritillary
      • Large White
      • Red Admiral
      • Black-veined White
      • Map Butterfly
      • Swallowtail
      • Peacock
      • Orange-tip
      • Brimstone
      • Small Tortoiseshell
      • Painted Lady
      • Comma Butterfly
      • Portuguese Dappled White
      • Camberwell Beauty
      • Queen of Spain Fritillary
    • Alpine Species
    • Germany - Eifel
    • Butterflies in France
    • Butterflies NL
    • Threats & Enemies
    • UFI
  • Gallery A - Z
    • Amphibians
    • Aosta - Gran Paradiso
    • Ardeche
    • Bayerischer Wald
    • Beetles
    • Bluebell Forest
    • Caterpillars
    • Cevennes
    • Dordogne
    • Holy Love
    • Hungary
    • Insects - Others
    • Jumping Spiders
    • Kleine Beerze
    • Kleine Beerze II
    • Koebosch
    • Landschotse Heide
    • Little Owl
    • Luberon
    • Lueneburger Heide
    • Mercantour
    • Mercantour part II
    • Orchids Dream
    • Pink and Purple
    • Snakes and Reptiles
    • Spiders
    • Spring Flowers
    • Strabrechtse Heide
    • Styria
    • Teutoburger Wald
    • Toxic Tales
    • Var
  • Blog Vosges
    • Butterflies in the Vosges
    • Nature in the Vosges
    • House Gallery Vosges
  • Rust In Peace
    • Citroen
    • Ford
    • Hanomag
    • Mercedes
    • Peugeot
    • Renault
    • Simca
    • Sleeping Beauty