The Butterfly Life Cycle

The Butterfly Life Cycle Written by Torrin Anderson Focus Question What is the life cycle of a monarch butterfly?

《蝴蝶的生命周期》 作者：托林·安德森 核心问题：黑脉金斑蝶的生命周期是什么样的？

The Life Cycle A monarch butterfly has four stages in its life cycle. They are egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult. A butterfly's body goes through big changes at each stage in its development.

生命周期：黑脉金斑蝶的一生要经历四个阶段 分别是卵、幼虫（毛毛虫）、蛹和成虫。 蝴蝶的身体在每个发育阶段都会发生巨大的变化。

Egg. A female monarch butterfly lays an oval -shaped egg on the bottom of a leaf. She might lay several hundred eggs in her lifetime. A caterpillar or larva grows inside the tiny egg. The egg hatches in three to twelve days.

卵期：雌性黑脉金斑蝶会把椭圆形的卵产在叶子的背面。 它一生大概能产下几百枚卵。 毛毛虫（幼虫）就在这小小的卵里发育，3到12天后卵就会孵化。

The hungry caterpillar eats constantly. It needs a lot of food to grow. First, the caterpillar eats its own eggshell. It also eats any other eggs on the same leaf. Then, the caterpillar eats the leaf it is on.

饥肠辘辘的毛毛虫会不停进食，它需要大量食物才能长大。 首先，毛毛虫会吃掉自己的卵壳，还会吃掉同一片叶子上的其他卵。 之后，毛毛虫就会吃自己所在的这片叶子。

The caterpillar grows quickly, but its skin does not grow. The caterpillar's old skin splits and peels away in a process called molting. The caterpillar will shed its old skin many times in this stage. The time between each molting is called an instar.

毛毛虫长得很快，但它的皮肤不会跟着长大。 毛毛虫的旧皮肤会裂开脱落，这个过程叫做蜕皮。 毛毛虫在这个阶段会蜕很多次旧皮。 两次蜕皮之间的时期叫做龄期。

New skin is under the old skin. It is soft at first but soon hardens. The caterpillar sheds its skin four to six times and eats the old skin each time. The caterpillar grows for two to four weeks. The more it eats, the more it can grow after each molting.

旧皮肤下面会长出新皮肤，新皮肤一开始很软，很快就会变硬。 毛毛虫总共会蜕4到6次皮，每次蜕皮后都会把旧皮吃掉。 毛毛虫的生长期是2到4周，吃得越多，每次蜕皮后长得就越大。