Unlike most butterflies, this species pupates underground.
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Once summer comes, native milkweeds are covered with monarch larvae that will pupate before the adults emerge in all their glory.—Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 4 Apr. 2026 Once the first spring generation pupates, the pupae wait out the summer heat, maturing into adults that emerge in early autumn.—Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 2 Mar. 2026 After three to seven days, the larvae fall to the ground and burrow into the soil to pupate, transforming into flies.—Madhusree Mukerjee, Scientific American, 25 Aug. 2025 The larvae infest the food but can move some distance away to pupate, spinning a silken cocoon and attaching to the wall, under a shelf, or inside a box of food.—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 19 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for pupate