These are usually wasps, laying their own eggs inside an egg, caterpillar or pupa. Parasitoids start their lives as parasites, in or on the body of a host, but they end up as predators, eating the ...

When they are big enough, the caterpillars turn into pupae. Inside the pupa, the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. After a few days or weeks, the adult butterfly will hatch from the pupa.

When a monarch butterfly finds a new home, it will create a silk patch around itself and hang upside down to enter the pupa stage. This layer is called the “chrysalis.” Inside, it is slowly ...