chrysalis

Trefry likened this awkward time of life to the stage in a butterfly’s development when a caterpillar disappears inside a chrysalis and dissolves into goo before reforming into something entirely new.

From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2025

Nearly every one of those caterpillars at some point drops from the tree canopy to overwinter or create a chrysalis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

Also like Mozart, Tao emerged from the often-precarious chrysalis of childhood as a prodigy to become a complex artist, tirelessly curious to seek out new challenges.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024

"By the time we emerged from the chrysalis, we were fully formed," says Georgia.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2023

I think of the flower chrysalis and the banners flashing her new face.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

If you spent a week in the dry forest as a child, examining chrysalides and ocelot droppings, you might, as an adult, see the forest as something other than a purely economic resource.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 30, 2015

The chrysalides are armed with short spines projecting from the segments.

From Butterflies and Moths (British) by William S. Furneaux

The chrysalides are generally inclosed in cocoons on or beneath the ground, and are often provided with spines or bristles on the under side.

From Butterflies and Moths (British) by William S. Furneaux

When I kept caterpillars, or rather raised butterflies, they never were tired of watching the chrysalides, hoping to see the expected butterflies.

From Guide to the Kindergarten and Intermediate Class and Moral Culture of Infancy. by Mary E. Mann

I could not tell whether the insect moulted its skin, as it was always hidden, but in July, after four months' feeding, the ant-lions changed into chrysalides, which looked like perfectly round balls of sand.

From Wild Nature Won By Kindness by Elizabeth Brightwen

The world’s top AI companies are now emerging from their private-market chrysalises to sell shares via initial public offerings.

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

For instance, well-meaning people have bought monarch-rearing kits online and even taken monarch butterfly chrysalises out of the wild to rear indoors.

From National Geographic ● Oct. 4, 2023

Then they transition to pupae, or chrysalises, for a week or two before emerging, or eclosing, for a short, winged adulthood.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2022

They lived in a mesh cage and grew bigger, much like the hero of Carle’s book, until they crawled and wiggled toward the top of the container, turning themselves into chrysalises.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2021

“In these collections, I saw countless other insects, but in a manner that lack both their origin and how they reproduced, that is to say how they changed from caterpillars to chrysalises and so on.”

From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman