According to Dr. Karen Oberhauser who has studied the female Monarch Butterfly the average female lays about 700, laying one at a time, but this varies year to year due to climate.
How Many Eggs Can A Butterfly Lay?
To answer your question, a female butterfly can lay from anywhere between a few to a few hundred eggs, depending on the species it belongs to. The key is the species that you are talking about. You also must understand that the life cycle of the butterfly is really not too long.
The egg is the first stage of existence of an insect of the order Lepidoptera, be it a butterfly or a moth. In the case of the butterfly specifically, the number of eggs that a female may lay varies from one species to another. In some species, the female lays one egg at a time. In others it lays eggs in small clusters. In some other species, the female lays eggs by the hundreds. The female butterfly lays the egg and glues it to the surface of the plant area (usually the leaf) where it has laid the egg, using a gum-like substance that the mother secretes simultaneously as it is laying the egg.
Of the hundreds of eggs that a female butterfly lays, quite a few do not make it to the next stage of the lepidopteran life cycle. The large numbers are also towards ensuring that at least some of them make it to the next stage and finally complete the butterfly's life cycle.
The egg is the first stage of existence of an insect of the order Lepidoptera, be it a butterfly or a moth. In the case of the butterfly specifically, the number of eggs that a female may lay varies from one species to another. In some species, the female lays one egg at a time. In others it lays eggs in small clusters. In some other species, the female lays eggs by the hundreds. The female butterfly lays the egg and glues it to the surface of the plant area (usually the leaf) where it has laid the egg, using a gum-like substance that the mother secretes simultaneously as it is laying the egg.
Of the hundreds of eggs that a female butterfly lays, quite a few do not make it to the next stage of the lepidopteran life cycle. The large numbers are also towards ensuring that at least some of them make it to the next stage and finally complete the butterfly's life cycle.
Depend on species
Normally a butterfly lays about 100 eggs. From those 100 eggs, only 2% survive. The survivors are a male and a female. The others will die in their eggs, as larva, as caterpillars, or as butterflies. Then when a male and a female meet, they mate, and the female lays her 100 eggs. Then everything starts over.
Normally a butterfly lays about 100 eggs. From those 100 eggs, only 2% survive. The survivors are a male and a female. The others will die in their eggs, as larva, as caterpillars, or as butterflies. Then when a male and a female meet, they mate, and the female lays her 100 eggs. Then everything starts over.
100
100
100
900
500
Around 70-80eggs. .
10 to 11
Around to 10 to 16 eggs