Tropical butterflies.

Most butterfly houses try to show the complete life cycle - at least of some of the butterfly species. You may find some eggs, caterpillars and pupae.

A freshly born Cattle Heart caterpillars takes its first meal - the eggshell. Then it will turn to the "large" leaf. And will start to grown.

Three weeks later the little caterpillar will turn into a big hungry monster, shining black and white with fleshy  spikes.

The pre-pupa is suspended with a griddle around its waist.

You can see small caterpillars inside their eggs twisting and turning. Before hatching the caterpillars eat a circular gap into the eggshell. Then the eggshell is pushed open and the small caterpillar crawles out.

When the caterpillar grews up, its skin is getting to small. So the caterpillar moults. The next "instar" may look very different. The 3rd instar Blue Morpho caterpilar is bright yellow and has nasty hairs and spikes to deter predators.

Caterpillar of the Blue Moon feed on a wide variety of plants. The will take Sweet Potatoes (as the one on the picture). But stinging nettles can be a good substitue.

Fully grown Blue Moon caterpillars are deep black with yellow-brown stikes. The look similar to caterpillars of Peacock Butterflies or Painted Ladies, because they are closely related.

The first meal of newly hatched caterpillars is the eggshell.

Fully grown caterpillars of the Postman are whitish with a few black spikes. They live on the leaves of passion vines.

Prior to pupation the caterpillar gets yellowish. It wanders off to seek a place for pupation. The caterpillar fixes itselves on a small silk pad and form a J-shaped so called "pre-pupa".

The pupa crawles out from inside the pre-pupa and re-fixes itselves on the silk pad. Young pupae are translucent and pinky-white. The color turns to light brown in some 20 minutes.

Small Postman often live in small groups. Together they consume leaves of passion vines. They prefer passion vines with bifid leaves (two tips), but will take allmost any passion vine.

If leaves are short in supply Small Postman start to stemfrass. This can have devasting consequences for the whole plant and may cut off nutritient supply for the whole generation of caterpillars.

Fully grown Small Postman caterpillars get quite colorfull with a greyish back, black and orange dots. Please note the small newly hatched caterpillar on the back-spines of the grown up caterpillar. You can see how fast they grow in only two weeks.

Passion vines somehow sense when eggs are laid on their leaves. Then they start to produce toxid alcaloids. Therefore some Heliconius butterflies, like the Flame, strongly prefer withered tips and tendrils for oviposition. By this the passion vine does not sense the egg and the young catapillar gets a better start.

Small caterpillars of the Flame create small flaps of the leaf. By this they try to hide from predating ants. Look for the flaps and you will find the caterpillars.

With every moult the caterpillars change the color of their skin. The 3rd "instar" is shiny black with dark spikes.

After another moult the caterpillar gets quite colorful.

This heliconid caterpillar can be very hungry. They eat up any passion vine they find. It can be a real pest in a tropical greenhouse.

Similar to the Flame, caterpillars of the Striped Longwing built a small hide. They prefer a more symmetric home.

Caterpillars of the Striped Longwing are light red. This may deter predators.

Zebra Longwings prefer the tips of fresh passion vines for oviposition (egglaying). Many eggs can accumulate.

This overcrowding may lead to canibalism.

Caterpillars of the Owl (or Banana butterfly) can devast whole bananas in short time. You may find them resting below the banana leaves. They are typically active during night times.

The Monarch butterflies are poisonous. The poison is taken up by the caterpillars from Asclepias-plants. Yellow-and-black marking is an effective warning coloration. This caterpillar fell of his host plant and was found on Pentas lanceolata.

Caterpillars of the Common Mime are very attractive and change color from yellow to orange to red with every moult.

Caterpillars of the giant Atlas Moth are giants, too. You can even hear them munching. The frass pellets are accordingly large...

Chinese Swallowtail caterpillars look like bird droppings - fooling predating birds.

The Great Mormon, an asian Swallowtail, uses bird-dropping as an effective mimikry.

In later instars the Great Mormon caterpillars turns slimy green and shows light blue spots.

The Giant Swallowtail caterpillars just look alike. But they feed on different plants. They use peppers as hostplants.

Citrus Swallowtails use the same strategy as many other swallowtails. They mimik bird dropping in early instars.

When grewing up the caterpillars look totally different. Now they are green and black, looking like small snakes.

The pre-pupa is fixed with a griddle in upright position.

Two weeks later the butterfly is ready to eclose. Black and yellow markings on the wings can allready be seen.