The painted lady (Vanessa cardui) is one of the most widespread of all butterflies, as it can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and Central America. It is native to Canada, where it usually arrives in June after migrating from warmer regions. It cannot survive colder climates, so it migrates again during the winter. They use the winds that occur at high altitudes to assist with their migration.

The painted lady has orange wings with black tips. The upper side of the forewings have a pattern of white spots and thick black lines. This is visually similar to the American lady, but it can be distinguished by the four eyespots instead of two on its hindwing. The underside of their wings consist of a pattern of black, brown, red-orange and gray colours. The four small eyespots are also visible from the underside, near the edges of their wings. Females are generally larger than males.

The painted lady butterfly feeds on nectar from many plants, including purple coneflower, thistles, red clover, asters, blazing star, cosmos, New England aster, Joe-pye weed, Mexican sunflower, zinnias, red clover and milkweed, though it typically prefers tall plants. The painted lady can also be called the thistle butterfly. Its scientific name (Vanessa cardui) means “butterfly of thistle”. This is because it is associated with thistle as the wide range of the weed likely also allowed the butterfly to spread widely throughout the world.

To reproduce, the territorial males wait for females to enter the territory, then mating commences. The males will also mate with multiple females. They reproduce when conditions are favorable, this includes year round mating in warmer climates. Mating results in small green eggs to be laid on the leaves of its host plants, which include thistle, mallows, hollyhock, legumes, and other plants from the Compositae, Boraginaceae, and Malvaceae families. Over 100 host plants of the painted lady have been recorded. The larvae emerge after 4 to 14 days as spiny, gray-brown to purple-black with yellow stripes caterpillars. They feed on the leaves of their host plants, which can have serious negative consequences to the plants if there are too many caterpillars on it.

Posted on June 23, 2024 08:14 PM by kiarra13