- The egg: The initial stage in the life of a butterfly occurs when an egg is deposited in the environment (on a branch or a leaf, or wherever depending on the species) and then fertilized. Generally this occurs in strategic places, using viscous substances, and there are usually several eggs deposited. Each one matures, as the life inside it reaches the necessary point, and finally hatches, releasing a larva, which we commonly know as a caterpillar.

- The caterpillar: Butterfly larvae, called caterpillars, are very popular in gardens, and are elongated animals like a worm, equipped with numerous legs and a spherical, robust head, with powerful jaws capable of crushing leaves, stems and other plant fibers that the caterpillar feeds on. Caterpillars can have antennae, protuberances, very different colors characteristic of the species, and many are even poisonous, but they all have one main objective in common: eating. They feed frantically until they accumulate in their bodies the right size and energy to begin the process of metamorphosis. Then, they look for the right place, usually hanging upside down from a branch, and weave a cocoon of silk or other fibers that they themselves produce. There they enclose themselves to become adults.

-The chrysalis: Once inside the cocoon they have woven themselves, the caterpillars become chrysalises or pupae, and lead a motionless life that lasts about three weeks. During this time, the caterpillar's tissues change, dissolve and build, until they take the form of a complete adult (imago). As this happens, the chrysalis also hardens, until, when the time comes, and thanks to the pressure exerted by the animal from within, it cracks, to let out an adult butterfly.

- The butterfly: After breaking out of the chrysalis, the butterfly spreads its newly hatched wings and lets them dry and fill with hemolymph. In the meantime, it fully emerges and, still hanging in place, prepares for flight. It is now an adult individual, ready to lead an aerial life, feeding on flower nectar and other similar fluids, and to reproduce and start the cycle again.