Painted lady

Last updated

Cynthia
2016.07.04.-26-Eilenburg-Ost--Distelfalter.jpg
Vanessa cardui
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nymphalidae
Subfamily:
Nymphalinae
Tribe:
Nymphalini
Genus:
Vanessa
Subgenus:
Cynthia

The Cynthia group of colourful butterflies, commonly called painted ladies, comprises a subgenus of the genus Vanessa in the family Nymphalidae. They are well known throughout most of the world.

Butterfly A group of insects in the order Lepidoptera

Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, which contains at least one former group, the skippers, and the most recent analyses suggest it also contains the moth-butterflies. Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, which was about 56 million years ago.

Subgenus taxonomic rank

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.

<i>Vanessa</i> (butterfly) A genus of brush-footed butterflies in the family Nymphalidae with a near-global distribution

Vanessa is a genus of brush-footed butterflies in the tribe Nymphalini. It has a near-global distribution and includes conspicuous species such as the red admirals, the Kamehameha, and the painted ladies of subgenus Cynthia: painted lady, American painted lady, West Coast lady, Australian painted lady, etc. For African admirals see genus, Antanartia. Recently, several members traditionally considered to be in the genus Antanartia have been determined to belong within the genus Vanessa.

Contents

The group includes:

<i>Vanessa cardui</i> species of insect

Vanessa cardui is a well-known colourful butterfly, known as the painted lady, or formerly in North America as the cosmopolitan.

Australian painted lady species of insect

The Australian painted lady butterfly is mostly confined to Australia, although westerly winds have dispersed it to islands east of Australia, including New Zealand. Debate surrounds the taxonomy of this species. Some believe that the Australian painted lady should be a subspecies of the painted lady due to the similarity in lifestyle and behaviour. Furthermore, the painted lady is found around the globe, but Australia is the only location in which it varies enough to be considered a separate species.

American painted lady species of insect

The American painted lady or American lady is a butterfly found throughout North America.

Distinguishing features

The painted lady (V. cardui) is a large butterfly (wing span 5–9 cm (2.0–3.5 in)) identified by the black and white corners of its mainly deep orange, black-spotted wings. It has five white spots in the black forewing tips and while the orange areas may be pale here and there, there are no clean white dots in them. The hindwings carry four small submarginal eyespots on the dorsal and ventral sides. Those on the dorsal side are black, but in the summer morph sometimes small blue pupils are present.

Eyespot (mimicry) Eye-like marking used for mimicry or distraction

An eyespot is an eye-like marking. They are found in butterflies, reptiles, cats, birds and fish.

The American painted lady (V. virginiensis) is most easily distinguishable by its two large hindwing eyespots on the ventral side. V. virginiensis also features a white dot within the subapical field of the forewings set in pink on the ventral side, and often as a smaller clean white dot in the orange of the dorsal side too. A less reliable indicator is the row of eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing; V. virginiensis often has two larger outer spots with blue pupils. The black forewing tips have four to five white spots; usually the largest is whitish orange.

The West Coast lady (V. annabella) does not have obvious ventral eyespots. On the dorsal side, V. anabella lacks a white dot in the subapical orange found in V. virginiensis, and is a purer orange color. V. annabella has a fully orange subapical band and leading edge on the forewing. The submarginal row of hindwing spots in V. annabella features three or four blue pupils. The two larger pupils in V. annabella are the inner spots, rather than the outer spots as in corresponding V. virginiensis.

West Coast lady species of insect

The West Coast lady is one of three North American species of brush-footed butterflies known colloquially as the "painted ladies". V. annabella occurs throughout much of the western US and southwestern Canada. The other two species are the cosmopolitan Vanessa cardui and the eastern Vanessa virginiensis. This species has also been considered a subspecies of the South American, Vanessa carye, and is frequently misspelled as "anabella".

The Australian painted lady (V. kershawi) is quite similar to V. cardui. Its four ventral eyespots are less clearly defined, and it always sports at least three (often four) blue pupil spots on its dorsal hindwing. Caterpillars are found mainly on Ammobium alatum .

<i>Ammobium alatum</i> species of plant

Ammobium alatum is a perennial Asteraceae species native to eastern Australia.

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References

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