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A butterfly passes through 4 developmental stages:

Egg, caterpillar (5–6 instars), pupa and adult. The characteristics of all 4 stages are described here.

The eggs are laid mostly singly but they may be in clusters too in few species. Egg period is of a week but temperature is the major deciding factor for the egg period longevity. Higher the temperature the quicker is the egg maturity. Parasites are the single major egg mortality factor in the case of butterflies.

The eggs hatch out into tiny larvae called as caterpillars. They are equipped with 3 pairs of thorasic legs and 4 or more pairs of abdominal leggs. The mouth parts are biting and chewing type. The larvae are voracious feeders. The tiny larvae moult into a bigger and stronger second instar larvae and the process repeats 4 to 5 times before the caterpillars are full grown. About 90 percent larvae are dead either due to diseases or parasitism.

The final instar caterpillar then turns into a quiescent stage called pupa. All internal and external body parts of a caterpillar are dissolved inside pupal shell. A full grown butterfly then comes out from the pupa in about a weeks time.

The adult butterflies possess siphoning type mouth parts by which the feed on nectar and juices. They mate and lay eggs to produce next generation.