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As butterfly caterpillars grow, they shed their skin (moult) from time to time because the skin cannot stretch indefinitely and so must be shed. The caterpillars that hatch from the egg are called first instar (or first stage) larvae; they usually pass through five instars (some groups of butterflies have four or six or even more instars), each one larger, with the last instar larva moulting to reveal the pupal case rather than a larger caterpillar. There is no simple way to distinguish butterfly caterpillars as a group from those of moths, so butterfly caterpillars are best recognized by the family or subfamily characteristics.
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