2007-06-22 05:11:09 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Most butterflies and moths will live a good bit more than a day, even when active -- probably a week or two. As previously said, if hibernating the adult may live several months. The caterpillars of course can live much longer -- some wood-boring species may take several years to grow to full size.
The insects which are usually talked of as living just a day are mayflies, or ephemerids. These do live for only a few days -- I think more than one though. Again their babies take a year or more to grow in the stream or lake.
Mayflies (and quite a few other kinds of insects) live for such a short time as adults that they do not need to eat or drink and so not have working mouthparts. Others, including most butterflies and moths, only drink water or nectar. There are of course many more which do eat properly as adults.
2007-06-22 05:51:46 · answer #1 · answered by richard_new_forester 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. There are some that even migrate and hibernate over winter. There is a forest in Mexico where in winter the trees are covered with butterlies wintering over. In spring they fly north into USA.
Even the common cabbage white butterfly can last much longer than a day as can a lot of other butterflies in UK. Some goes for moths too.
Some butterlies are known to fly to Europe from UK. At the slow speed they go they can need a day just to fly over. It would be sad if they arrived just in time to die.
2007-06-22 05:18:08 · answer #2 · answered by Tim 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here's a website about the Monarch butterfly. It says:
"The life span of the adult Monarch varies, depending on the season in which it emerged from the pupa and whether or not it belongs to a migratory group of Monarchs. Adults that emerged in early summer have the shortest life spans and live for about two to five weeks. Those that emerged in late summer survive over the winter months. The migratory Monarchs, which emerge from the pupa in late summer and then migrate south, live a much longer life, about 8-9 months."
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/species/Monarch.shtml
2007-06-22 05:15:36 · answer #3 · answered by ecolink 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some live a year and some live only long enough to reproduce.
2016-05-17 11:01:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋