Butterfly Larvae
The longest life cycle stage of the butterfly is the larval stage, this is the stage when food is built up and stored by the caterpillar for adult life (Orr & Kitching 2010). Caterpillars consume their food plants using a pair of toothed mandibles on their defined head (Orr & Kitching 2010). Caterpillars not only consume leaves, but also eat buds, seeds and fully open flowers (Orr & Kitching 2010). They have legs with small claws on the end which are used to grip onto the plant during feeding (Orr & Kitching 2010). During this stage of development and growth, larvae shed their outer skin four to six times. Each stage between a shedding event is called an instar (Orr & Kitching 2010). It is important for caterpillars to acquire fat and protein from their food which is used for developmental purposes in both males and females (Orr & Kitching 2010). In females, fat and protein are used for egg development and laying and in males it is used during sexual intercourse with a female butterfly (Orr & Kitching 2010).
Diet
Butterflies feed on a variety of substances including live and decaying plants, fruit, nectar (Gullan & Cranston 2010) and dung (Krenn 2010). During feeding butterflies obtain sugar and minerals from a variety of sources including nectar, squashed fruit, soil and human skin (Krenn 2010). They feed using a structure called the proboscis which varies in length between species (Krenn 1990). Caterpillars require nutrients such as sucrose, cellulose and amino acids. To obtain these nutrients they feed from a diverse range of plants including flowering plants, ferns and mosses (Powell 2009). To feed they use biting and chewing mouthparts (Krenn 2010). Butterflies are both specialists and generalists in terms of feeding, with some species being restricted to one genus of plants and others feeding on up to 30 genera (Orr & Kitching 2010).
Taste receptors
Butterflies are stimulated through visual and olfactory cues by flowers and their scents (Inoue et al. 2008). They have taste receptors, known as sensilla on their legs and proboscis (Inoue et al. 2008) which are designed to sense suitable food sources. Flowers are responsible for emitting complex chemical compounds that attract certain butterflies to them (Andersson & Dobson 2003), this is a very specialised action. Butterflies’ advanced colour vision system also assists in the location of food plants (Andersson & Dobson 2003) with many plants also displaying visual cues to the insect.
The longest life cycle stage of the butterfly is the larval stage, this is the stage when food is built up and stored by the caterpillar for adult life (Orr & Kitching 2010). Caterpillars consume their food plants using a pair of toothed mandibles on their defined head (Orr & Kitching 2010). Caterpillars not only consume leaves, but also eat buds, seeds and fully open flowers (Orr & Kitching 2010). They have legs with small claws on the end which are used to grip onto the plant during feeding (Orr & Kitching 2010). During this stage of development and growth, larvae shed their outer skin four to six times. Each stage between a shedding event is called an instar (Orr & Kitching 2010). It is important for caterpillars to acquire fat and protein from their food which is used for developmental purposes in both males and females (Orr & Kitching 2010). In females, fat and protein are used for egg development and laying and in males it is used during sexual intercourse with a female butterfly (Orr & Kitching 2010).
Diet
Butterflies feed on a variety of substances including live and decaying plants, fruit, nectar (Gullan & Cranston 2010) and dung (Krenn 2010). During feeding butterflies obtain sugar and minerals from a variety of sources including nectar, squashed fruit, soil and human skin (Krenn 2010). They feed using a structure called the proboscis which varies in length between species (Krenn 1990). Caterpillars require nutrients such as sucrose, cellulose and amino acids. To obtain these nutrients they feed from a diverse range of plants including flowering plants, ferns and mosses (Powell 2009). To feed they use biting and chewing mouthparts (Krenn 2010). Butterflies are both specialists and generalists in terms of feeding, with some species being restricted to one genus of plants and others feeding on up to 30 genera (Orr & Kitching 2010).
Taste receptors
Butterflies are stimulated through visual and olfactory cues by flowers and their scents (Inoue et al. 2008). They have taste receptors, known as sensilla on their legs and proboscis (Inoue et al. 2008) which are designed to sense suitable food sources. Flowers are responsible for emitting complex chemical compounds that attract certain butterflies to them (Andersson & Dobson 2003), this is a very specialised action. Butterflies’ advanced colour vision system also assists in the location of food plants (Andersson & Dobson 2003) with many plants also displaying visual cues to the insect.