59.024 : 1591 : 7245
Nymphalidae : Nymphalinae

Painted Lady

VANESSA cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)
Picture

Life Cycle Guide

Picture
Description
Wingspan: Male : 47-59mm : Female : 46-62mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : Africa : Asia : Australia : North America : Hawaii.
UK Distribution: Common and widespread throughout Britain and ireland
UK Conservation Status -
  • Migrant
  • Least Concern - Red List
European Conservation Status -
  • Least Concern
Original Species Name -
  • Papilio cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)
Type Species - Vanessa
  • Papilio atalanta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Type Locality -
  • Europe : Africa
Altitude: Sea Level-3000m
Flight period: Flies in all months of permanent residence in the far south of its distribution low altitude-Multivoltine: South : March-November : Areas where frost occurs : Migrant-Appearing late March-Early October.
Habitat: Virtually any location where larval food plant is found,usually containing thistles.
Ovum: The female normally deposits her small green eggs on the upperside leaf of various Thistles although other plants are also used like Mallow,Globe Artichoke and Nettles.
Larva: The egg hatches after a week and the young caterpillar climbs to the underside of the leaf to feed where it spins a silk pad.
The growing larva lives under a succession of tents made by joining leaves together with silk where it feeds.Following the final instar it lives on top of the leaves before pupating.
Pupa: The pupa comes in two colour forms and lives suspended in a tent.
Overwinters as: Cannot survive winter in temperate climates
Observations: This beautiful butterfly is a migrant to our shores from North Africa and Europe where numbers vary from year to year.
In 2009 we had a spectacular migration northwards, when the butterfly was encountered in numbers not seen for many years,if not the best year ever.
At Odiham Common I watched them arriving from the south as they flew over oaks at one end of the common,across the common where some stopped to top up on nectar before rising above the oaks the other end of the common heading in a northerly direction.
I counted forty individuals in a very short time such was the numbers that migrated that year. I believe late rains in the Sahara desert produced good vegetation for the Painted Lady's which headed north as the food supply became exhausted.
Sadly the Painted Lady cannot withstand our winters which is difficult to accept, especially when considering the numbers that arrived in 2009.
Being a migrant this butterfly is a very strong flyer and can be seen moving from one nectar plant to another,stopping for short periods.
Perhaps the best sighting for most people usually takes place in the garden where they can be seen avidly feeding on the many varieties of Buddleia.

Although the Painted Lady is polyphagous in nature using larval food plants from a wide range of genera, in Britain the most common plant used by the larvae is possibly the Spear Thistle or Common Thistle, to use its alternative name. (See larva photos below)

The life cycle of this beautiful butterfly takes between four and six weeks which provides a succession of the species throughout the summer.

Photo Gallery : Click photo for larger image

Larva

Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website where further information like photos,physical characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
  • Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
Larval Food Plants
Taxonomy
Kingdom:
Subkingdom:
Phylum:
Subphylum
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Accepted Species Name:

Type Species - VANESSA:

Original Species Name:





































Literary Ref:

Type Locality:

Forms/Aberrations:
Animalia
Eumetozoa
Arthropoda
Hexapoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Papilionoidea 
Nymphalidae
Nymphalinae
Nymphalini
VANESSA Fabricius, 1807
Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Papilio atalanta (Linnaeus, 1758)
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PAPILIO cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)
= Papilio cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)
= Papilio belladonna Linnaeus, 1758
= Pyrameis carduelis Cramer, 1775
= Papilio carduelis Cramer, 1775
= Pyrameis flava Bandermann, 1928  
= Vanessa elymi Rambur, 1829
= Pyrameis elymnias Rambur, 1829
= Pyrameis pallida Schoyen, 1881
 = Pyrameis pallens Noel, 1881  
= Vanessa inornata Bramson, 1886
= Cardui semisuffusa Cockerell, 1889
= Vanessa wiskotti Standfuss, 1896
= Pyrameis minor Cannaviello, 1900
= Pyrameis carduelis Schultz, 1906
= Pyrameis cardui japonica Stichel, 1908
= Pyrameis carduelina Alphéraky, 1908
= Pyrameis rosacea Reuss, 1915
= Pyrameis brunnea-albimaculata Reuss, 1915    
= Pyrameis cardui universa Verity, 1919
= Pryrameis martha-maria Stephan, 1924   
= Pyrameis subfracta Stack, 1925
= Pyrameis takesakiana Kato, 1925
= Pyrameis schoenfellneri Hoffmann, 1925   
= Cardui littoralis Souza, 1926
= Pyrameis cardui litoralis de Souza, 1926
= Pyrameis rosea Pionneau, 1926
= Cynhia cardui jacksoni Clark, 1927
= Pyrameis rogeri Meilhan, 1929
= Pyrameis varini Meilhan, 1929
= Pyrameis hemielymi Gaede, 1930
= Pyrameis cardui rogeri Gaede, 1931
= Pyrameis johni Fischer, 1932    
= Vanessa cardui ushuwaia Bryk, 1944
= Vanessa albicans Verity, 1950   
= Vanessa albipuncta Lempke, 1956      
= Vanessa nigripuncta Lempke, 1956
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Syst. Nat. (Edn 10) 1 : Title page : p.475 n.107
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Europe : Africa
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V.c. pallida Frohawk, 1938
V.c. infralutea Verity, 1950
V.c. carduelina Alpheraky, 1908
V.c. ocellata Rebel, 1910
V.c. rogeri Meilhan, 1929