Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)

Family: Nymphalidae

Subfamily: Nymphalinae

Identification: Upperside is orange-brown with darker wing bases; forewing with black apex patch and white bar on leading edge; hindwing submarginal row of 5 small black spots sometimes has blue scales. Underside has a black, brown, and gray pattern with 4 small submarginal eyespots.

Wing Span: 2 - 2 7/8 inches (5.1 - 7.3 cm).

Life History: Males perch and patrol during the afternoon for receptive females. In the West males usually perch on shrubs on hilltops, while in the East males perch on bare ground in open areas. Females lay eggs singly on the tops of host plant leaves. Caterpillars live in silk nests and eat leaves. Adults hibernate only in the South and in mild winters.

Flight: One to three flights in the East from May-October, three to four flights in South Texas from October-April.

Caterpillar Hosts: More than 100 host plants have been noted; favorites include thistles (Asteraceae), hollyhock and mallow (Malvaceae), and various legumes (Fabaceae).

Adult Food: The Painted Lady prefers nectar from composites 3-6 feet high, especially thistles; also aster, cosmos, blazing star, ironweed, and joe-pye weed. Flowers from other families that are visited include red clover, buttonbush, privet, and milkweeds.

Habitat: Almost everywhere, especially in open or disturbed areas including gardens, old fields, dunes.

Range: On all continents except Australia and Antarctica. From the deserts of northern Mexico, the Painted Lady migrates and temporarily colonizes the United States and Canada south of the Arctic. Occasionally, population explosions in Mexico will cause massive northward migrations. Comments: The Painted Lady is also known as the Thistle Butterfly because of the caterpillars' food preference and also as the Cosmopolitan because it is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world.

Conservation: Not required.

NCGR: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

Management Needs: None reported.

Get your BAMONA Gear!

Visit the BAMONA Shop

Hoodies and t-shirts in two designs!

Please donate!

We depend on donations to keep Butterflies and Moths of North America freely available. We want to express our gratitude to all who showed their support by making a contribution this year. You can donate to support this project at any time.

Advertise with us!

Do you have a product or service that you think would interest BAMONA users? If you would like to advertise on this website, contact us by email, or use the contact form and select the "Advertising" category.

Verified Sightings

Displaying 1 - 24 of 6941 verified sightings

Filter by Region

Observation date: Jul 07, 2024

Submitted by: bonfrey

Region: La Plata County, Colorado, United States

Verified by: mikefisher

Verified date: Nov 17, 2024

Butterflies and Moths of North America

collecting and sharing data about Lepidoptera

Please donate!

Advertise with us!

Verified Sightings

Advertisement

Painted Lady
Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)