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Painted Lady
Scientific Name:
Vanessa cardui
Type:
Invertebrate
Habitat:
Variety of natural and disturbed areas
Range:
All continents except Australia and Antarctica
Status:
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
This species is
NON-NATIVE
to the Truckee Meadows.
Identification:
Painted lady butterflies have wingspans of over 2 inches. These butterflies have impressive and beautiful orange patterns on their wings. They also have brown patterns along with the orange on their upper wings. Black and white patches are also found on the wings with the orange and brown patterns. Painted ladies usually fly low, near to the ground as they look for the nectar of plants.
Fast Facts:
In the caterpillar stage, they prefer to eat thistles and are sometimes referred to as "Thistle Butterflies".
Caterpillars will feed on over 100 different types of host plants.
Painted lady butterflies cannot tolerate freezing temperatures and therefore great migrations of these beautiful butterflies are seen at least once a year.
Adult butterflies eat the nectar of a variety of different plants such as thistles, cosmos, asters, and milkweed.
Painted ladies are considered the most widespread of all of the butterfly species.
Painted lady butterflies have been noted in all parks in the Truckee Meadows during migration periods.
Sources:
University of Colorado, Boulder, Museum of Natural History, Painted Lady Butterfly, June 2020. https://www.colorado.edu/cumuseum/2020/06/24/painted-lady-butterfly
Butterflies and Moths of North America, Painted Lady, online 2021. https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Vanessa-cardui
IUCN Redlist, Painted Lady, last assess 2020, online. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/174379/161326679#geographic-range
Contributor(s):
Caron Tayloe (research & content)
Alex Shahbazi (edits & page design)