The caterpillar crawls away from the milkweed plant in search of a safe spot to begin the pupa stage of the monarch butterfly life cycle. It uses spinnerets near its mouth to create a tiny silken pad.

Each caterpillar then undergoes a complete physical transformation called metamorphosis Now resembling a butterfly, it emerges from the chrysalis ready to mate so the cycle can continue ...

In the study, Silvia Mecenero of the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa and Stephen Kirkman of Nelson Mandela University examine the species' developmental stages ... butterfly's complete life ...