1. Monarch Butterfly egg laid on the underside of a Common Milkweed plant
2. Tiny caterpillar hatches from egg. It's 1st act is to eat its now empty eggshell to better camoflage itself from predators.
3. As the caterpillar eats and grows, its stripes & colors become more evident.
4. One of the caterpilar's 5 Instar Stages in which it sheds its skin. The "streaks" on the glass around the caterpillar are hair-like filaments it has put there for better traction on the glass so it can more easily crawl out of its old skin. The grey item above the cat is its old skin, now shriveled up.
5. The 5th (final) Instar Stage has begun. The caterpillar has crawlwd away from the other "cats" and attached itself to a leaf. It is suspended down in a "J"-shape. This position will make it easier to break out of this final skin by suddenly straightening out.
6. The caterpillar has metamorphisized into a pupae or chrysalis. After first splitting from its last old skin, it looks like a lime green gummy worm. Immediately it will start violently twisting and squeezing itself into the more compact chrysalis shape. The shiny, wet looking caterpillar will become dry & frosty looking. Later, a few black specs and a thin, bright gold ridge will appear on the chrysalis for camoflage. The chrysalis will eventually change color to black and become more transparent shortly before the butterfly ecloses (emerges) and unfold and dry its wings. When its body temperature reaches 81F it will be able to fly.
7. At center is the fully grown caterpillar whose antennae-like filaments have started to shrivel up, a sign that its metamorphosis time is near.