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Painted Lady

Vanessa cardui

Summary 3

Vanessa cardui is a well-known colourful butterfly, known as the Painted Lady, or in North America as the Cosmopolitan. This butterfly has a strange pattern of flying in a sort of screw shape.

General description 4

There are two other similar Vanessa; the first, V. virginiensis, occurs only very rarely as a migrant in Alberta, and the Painted Lady can immediately be distinguished from virginiensis by the row of three to four smaller eyespots on the hindwing underside; virginiensis has only two, much larger spots. Compared to the West Coast Lady (V. annabella), cardui has a large white spot two-thirds up the leading edge of the forewing, which is orange in annabella; cardui is also larger.
Royal Alberta Museum page
 There are no named subspecies.

Summary 5

"Vanessa cardui, also called the Painted Lady or the Cosmopolitan(in North America), is a popular colourful butterfly species that shows a characteristic strange screw shaped flight pattern."

Distribution 6

This butterfly is more widespread tha nany other species in the world; although it does not tolerate hard winter forsts, migrants have been found on every continent save Antarctica; recorded as far north as northern Greenland (Scott 1986).

Habitat 7

A migrant that can be found in almost any habitat in years that it is common.

Migration 8

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Flowering plants visited by vanessa cardui in illinois 9

Vanessa cardui Linnaeus: Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera
(observations are from Robertson, Graenicher, Hilty, Reed, Macior, Broyles & Wyatt, Wist, Fothergill & Vaughn; this butterfly is the Painted Lady)

Apiaceae: Eryngium yuccifolium sn (H); Asclepiadaceae: Asclepias exaltata plup sn, Asclepias verticillata plup sn; Asteraceae: Aster lanceolatus sn (Rb), Aster novae-angliae sn (Rb), Aster pilosus sn (Rb), Aster salicifolius sn (Rb), Aster subulatus sn (FV), Bidens aristosa sn fq (Rb), Boltonia asterioides sn (Rb), Chrysopsis villosa sn (Re), Cirsium arvense sn (Re), Cirsium discolor sn (Rb, H), Echinacea angustifolia sn (Ws), Echinacea purpurea sn (Rb, H), Eupatorium serotinum sn (Rb), Euthamia graminifolia sn (Gr), Helianthus grosseserratus sn fq (Rb), Heliopsis helianthoides sn (Re), Liatris aspera sn (H, Re), Liatris pycnostachya sn (H), Silphium integrifolium sn (H), Silphium perfoliatum sn (Rb), Solidago canadensis sn (Rb), Solidago speciosa sn (Re), Taraxacum officinale sn (FV); Campanulaceae: Campanulastrum americanum sn (Rb); Fabaceae: Trifolium pratense sn (Rb, Re); Lamiaceae: Agastache foeniculum sn (Re), Blephilia hirsuta sn (Rb), Monarda fistulosa sn (Rb), Pycnanthemum tenuifolium sn (Rb); Lythraceae: Lythrum alatum sn (Rb); Ranunculaceae: Delphinium tricorne sn np (Mc); Rubiaceae: Cephalanthus occidentalis sn (Rb); Scrophulariaceae: Linaria vulgaris sn np (Rb); Verbenaceae: Verbena stricta sn (Re)

Insect activities:
fq = frequent flower visitor (about 6 or more visits reported)
np = non-pollinating
sn = sucks nectar

Scientific observers:
(BW) = Broyles & Wyatt
(Gr) = S. Graenicher
(H) = John Hilty
(Mc) = L.W. Macior
(Rb) = Charles Robertson
(Re) = Catherine Reed
(Ws) = Tyler Wist

Behaviour 10

Adults feed flower nectar and sometimes aphid honeydew (Scott, 1986).

Conservation status 11

Not of concern.

Threats 12

Degree of Threat: D : Unthreatened throughout its range, communities may be threatened in minor portions of the range or degree of variation falls within natural variation

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) dloarie, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by dloarie, http://www.flickr.com/photos/57556735@N08/6186706259
  2. (c) Cesare Brizio, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://tolweb.org/tree/ToLimages/Cynthia_cardui-8001.jpg
  3. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_cardui
  4. (c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31887180
  5. (c) India Biodiversity Portal, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/26326610
  6. (c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31887179
  7. (c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31887181
  8. (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/28742294
  9. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/32697808
  10. (c) Leslie Ries, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/20605252
  11. (c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31887177
  12. (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/28742288

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(c) Discover Life and original sources, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC-SA)

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