The American painted lady or American lady (''Vanessa virginiensis'')"''Vanessa'' Fabricius, 1807"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

found throughout North America. The larvae feed on various

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

, such as the cudweeds (genus ''

Gnaphalium ''Gnaphalium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly called cudweeds. They are widespread and common in temperate regions, although some are found on tropical mountains or in the subtropical regions of the world. Cudw ...

''), the pussytoes ('' Antennaria''), and the everlastings (''

Anaphalis ''Anaphalis'' is a genus of herbaceous and woody flowering plants within the family Asteraceae, whose members are commonly known by the name pearl or pearly everlasting. There are around 110 species with the vast majority being native to central ...

''), which all belong to tribe

Gnaphalieae The Gnaphalieae are a tribe of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is most closely related to the tribes Anthemideae, Astereae, and Calenduleae. Characteristics This group is most diverse in South America, Southern Africa and Australi ...

. All stages of the life cycle can be found throughout temperate North America as well as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Occasionally individuals can be found as far as southwest Europe. It has been introduced to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

where it is one of four '' Vanessa'' species.

Description

''Vanessa virginiensis'' is most easily distinguishable by its two large eyespots on the ventral side, whereas '' V. cardui'' has four small eyespots and '' V. annabella'' has none. ''V. virginiensis'' also uniquely features a white dot within the forewing subapical field, set in pink on the underside and usually also in the dorsal side's orange field. The largest spot in the black forewing tips is white in ''V. cardui'', pale orange in this species, and orange in the West Coast species. The latter also has a purer orange background color of the dorsal side, as opposed to the darker and (especially in ''V. virginiensis'') redder hue of the other two. A less reliable indicator is the row of black eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing. In the American painted lady, those on the opposite ends of the row are often larger and have blue "pupils". In ''V. annabella'', this applies to the inner two spots, while in ''V. cardui'' some of the black eyespots may have tiny blue pupils in the summer morph, but usually have none at all, and the eyespots themselves are all roughly the same size. The size of the wings are about 5 cm (2 in) across.

Etymology and taxonomic history

The name "painted lady" was in use among

James Petiver James Petiver (c. 1665 – c. 2 April 1718) was a London apothecary, a fellow of the Royal Society as well as London's informal Temple Coffee House Botany Club, famous for his specimen collections in which he traded and study of botany and entom ...

Adam Buddle Adam Buddle (1662–1715) was an English cleric and botanist. Born at Deeping St James, a small village near Peterborough, Buddle was educated at Woodbridge School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he gained a BA in 1681, and an M ...

and other naturalists in England for the closely related ''Vanessa cardui''. Petiver had described it as "Papilio Bella donna dicta". Fabricius called the American form of the butterfly as ''Papilio huntera'' based on a vagrant specimen captures in Britain and it was for sometime known as Hunter's butterfly. W. J. Holland identified the "Hunter" as an American Indian named John Dunn who had been noted for his hunting ability as the "hunter". John Dunn had later moved to Europe but this hypothesis has been pointed out as being implausible since John Dunn "Hunter" was born c. 1798 and that Fabricius most likely named it after his friend and collecting companion William Hunter.

Distinguishing features

:''See''

Gallery

File:Vanessa virginiensis UMFS 2015 2.jpg, Underside of wings File:Vanessa virginiensisPCCP20030904-2871B.jpg, Some individuals lack the additional white subapical forewing spot File:Vanessa virginiensisPCSL03914B1.jpg, Ventral side File:Butterfly House 4.JPG, Adult resting on a flower File:American Lady Butterfly caterpillar.jpg, American lady butterfly caterpillar in

Wooster, Ohio Wooster ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Wayne County. Located in northeastern Ohio, the city lies approximately south-southwest of Cleveland, southwest of Akron and west of Canton. The population was 27,232 at ...

, United States File:American lady on purple coneflower (74770).jpg, American lady on purple coneflower in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

File:American lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis).jpg, American lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis) on Butterfly Bush

References

*Riley, N.D. and Higgens, L.G. 1970. ''A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Europe. Collins, Great Britain''.

External links