Not your wife this painted lady isn't it ? by iaacf

Photography • Macro • posted on Aug 12, 2006

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Description

The Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) is a well-known colourful butterfly, known in North America as the Cosmopolite. It is one of the most widespread of all butterflies, found on every continent except Antarctica. In Australia, V. cardui has a limited range around Bunbury, Fremantle and Rottnest Island. However, its close relative, the Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi, sometimes considered a subspecies) ranges over half the continent. Other closely related species are the American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis), and the West Coast Lady (Vanessa anabella). The Painted Lady occurs in any temperate zone, including mountains in the tropics. The species is resident only in warmer areas, but migrates in spring, and sometimes again in autumn. For example, it migrates from North Africa and the Mediterranean to Britain in May and June, but offspring produced there die in the Autumn. The caterpillars feed on a wide variety of host plants of the families Compositae (especially thistle), Boraginaceae, Malvaceae (especially hollyhocks and dwarf mallow (Malva neglecta), and a number of legumes. The adults drink nectar from a variety of wildflowers and cultivars, more commonly the favored thistle, butterfly bush (Buddleia), asters, Tickseed sunflowers (Bidens) and zinnias.