How long is the average Butterfly life?
This question is actually more complicated than it might sound at first. Strictly speaking, an individual butterfly’s life also includes its time in the egg, caterpillar and pupal (chrysalis) stages, not just the adult stage. For species with one generation per year that are dormant in the cold months, that would mean that a single individual can live for a year.
If you are thinking of just the adult stage, the lifespan can vary enormously, even in the same species. For any species that has two generations per year and overwinters as an adult, the overwintering adults live for 10-11 months, while the “summer” generation adults may live for only 2-3 weeks. The mourning cloak (photo below) is a good example of a butterfly species that has two generations in parts of its range and overwinters as an adult.
Then there is the issue of how long they can live (for example, in the lab, with appropriate temperatures and abundant food) versus how long they actually do live in nature, where they are subject to inclement weather and predators. I can pamper an old butterfly and keep it going for a month in the lab, whereas it might have lived only a week or two in the wild. – Dr. Naomi Cappuccino
Take a closer look at the Butterfly Life Stages described in the Butterfly Educational Posters on our Learning at Home page.