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The West Coast lady (''Vanessa annabella'') 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 ''
Aside from general differences in distribution, ''V. annabella'' can be distinguished from the other two painted ladies of North America as follows:
Most conspicuously, it lacks obvious ventral eyespots on the hindwings; there are two large ones on ''V. virginiensis'' and four small ones on ''V. cardui''. Like the latter, it also lacks a white dot in the pinkish-orange subapical field of the ventral and dorsal forewings. Its upperwing coloration has the purest orange of the three; the American painted lady is usually quite reddish.
A less reliable indicator is the row of black eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing. These are usually of roughly equal size in ''V. cardui'' and lack blue centers, though the summer morph may have a few tiny ones. In the other two, usually two eyespots are larger and have more conspicuous blue centers. In ''V. virginiensis'', these normally are the spot at each end of the row, whereas in the present species it is the two middle ones.
West Coast Lady
Butterflies of Canada
Vanessa cardui
''Vanessa cardui'' is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan.
Description
File:Vanessa cardui MHNT CUT 2013 3 14 Pontfaverger-Moronvilliers Dos. ...
'' (painted lady) and the eastern ''Vanessa virginiensis
The American painted lady or American lady (''Vanessa virginiensis'')South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
n ''Vanessa carye
''Vanessa carye'', the western painted lady, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in South America, from the mountains of Colombia and west of Caracas (Venezuela) through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, southern Brazil, and Parag ...
'' and is frequently misspelled as "anabella".
Distinguishing features
Aside from general differences in distribution, ''V. annabella'' can be distinguished from the other two painted ladies of North America as follows:
Most conspicuously, it lacks obvious ventral eyespots on the hindwings; there are two large ones on ''V. virginiensis'' and four small ones on ''V. cardui''. Like the latter, it also lacks a white dot in the pinkish-orange subapical field of the ventral and dorsal forewings. Its upperwing coloration has the purest orange of the three; the American painted lady is usually quite reddish.
A less reliable indicator is the row of black eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing. These are usually of roughly equal size in ''V. cardui'' and lack blue centers, though the summer morph may have a few tiny ones. In the other two, usually two eyespots are larger and have more conspicuous blue centers. In ''V. virginiensis'', these normally are the spot at each end of the row, whereas in the present species it is the two middle ones.
See also
* ''Cynthia'' (butterfly) *''Vanessa carye
''Vanessa carye'', the western painted lady, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in South America, from the mountains of Colombia and west of Caracas (Venezuela) through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, southern Brazil, and Parag ...
''
References
West Coast Lady
Butterflies of Canada
External links
Vanessa (butterfly) Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1971 Fauna of the Western United States {{Nymphalinae-stub