What are butterfly shells made of?

Answer 1

There are a number of possibilities:

The name may have, originally, only applied to "creatures" of a yellowish or butter coloured nature.

There was an earlier belief that butterflies ate milk and butter - German molkendiep ("butterfly", lit. "milk-thief");

Or that they excreted a butter like substance - Dutch boterschijte ("butterfly", lit. "butter-shitter")

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Answer 2

Butterflies don't come out of cocoons. Only some moths do. A butterfly chrysalis actually is the insect itself; it's not wrapped in silk or anything else. If you watch a caterpillar transform into a chrysalis, you'll see the caterpillar's skin split open and the "blob" that emerges from inside hardens into the chrysalis.

Answer 3

Butterflies and insects have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, called the exoskeleton. This protects the insect and keeps water inside their bodies so they don't dry out.

Answer 4

They're made of cells just like any other living thing.

Answer 5

The cocoon that butterflies hatch from is made of silk.