What Appearance Do Painted Lady Butterflies Have?
A Painted Lady butterfly features an upper wing adorned with an orange and black pattern complemented by white spots, as well as four or five black spots on each hindwing. The underwings display a dark brown and tan striped pattern, also featuring four or five marks at the outer edge of the hindwing. These butterflies boast a wingspan ranging from 2 to 2 7/8 inches.
Meet the lovely
American lady butterfly
.
Painted Lady Habitat
You can find a painted lady butterfly almost anywhere, but they tend to favor certain environments over others.
open grassy areas
, gardens and fields. These painted ladies can be found on all continents except for Australia and Antarctica, as well as numerous oceanic islands. They are amongst the most globally distributed butterfly species in the world!
Painted Lady Host Plants
This particular butterfly employs a range of different techniques.
host plants
(preferably over 100), but favors thistle, hollyhock, mallow, and various legumes.
What Is the Diet of a Painted Lady Butterfly?
You might spot them drinking nectar from thistles, asters, cosmos flowers, ironweeds, and blazing stars. Explore more summer-blooming options.
flower nectar that draws butterflies
.
Painted Lady Caterpillar
Painted lady caterpillars
can be grayish-brown or nearly black, featuring a yellow stripe running down their bodies and spiky protrusions along their sides and back. These creatures display slight variations in coloring during their caterpillar phase. Prior to entering the pupal stage, search for caterpillars constructing silky shelters among thistles, which serve as one of their preferred host plants.
Here’s how you can recognize one:
red-spotted purple butterfly
.
Painted Lady Butterfly Migration and Movement Information
- Painted ladies have the ability to soar at velocities nearing 30 miles per hour and may travel as far as 100 miles within a single day.
-
These butterflies have been discovered at elevations as great as 22,000 feet, which is the highest for any.
butterfly species
. - European painted ladies migrate to Africa in fall, crossing the Mediterranean and often continuing across the Sahara Desert. Their offspring then return north to Europe in spring.
Next, welcome the royal family of gardens: the
viceroy butterfly
.
Sources
-
Butterflies and Moths of North America –
painted lady -
Home Ground Habitats –
painted lady butterflies -
UCLA Newsroom –
UCLA buzzing about the butterfly effect -
BioKIDS –
Vanessa cardui -
Raising Butterflies –
painted lady
