This is the last stage of the monarch butterfly life cycle. The outer skin thins and becomes transparent, exposing the colors of the wings and body that have formed inside.

The Butterfly Stage Moving from the cocoon to the butterfly stage represents the shedding of the outer, protective shell, shedding what is no longer needed, in order to release what is inside.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune, August 20, 2002:Puccini’s tragedy may open an era of opera for TijuanaYou’d expect the pounding sound of banda music to rise from this hillside neighbo… ...

From cocoon to butterfly Proto-planetary nebulae represent the transition phase between the last stages of a red giant star’s life and the later planetary nebula phase where most of the star’s ...

A butterfly “cocoon” isn’t really a cocoon at all. It’s called a chrysalis. Both butterflies and moths belong to a big group of insects that go through complete metamorphosis.