A medium-sized butterfly closely related to painted lady. American lady has two large blue eyespots on the hindwing underside vs. painted lady's four small ones.
§ Quick facts
§ Encyclopedia
The American painted lady or American lady is a butterfly found throughout North America.
Source: Wikipedia — American lady Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
§ Identification
Field marks. Medium butterfly. Above: orange with black markings and small white spots near forewing tip. Below: hindwing has two large eyespots (Painted Lady has four small eyespots — key field-ID feature).
Similar species. Painted Lady (four small eyespots below). West Coast Lady (different range, different markings). Red Admiral (red wing bars).
Voice. N/A
§ Diet & behavior
Diet. Adults: nectar from wide variety of flowers (especially aster, milkweed, dogbane, butterfly bush). Caterpillars: pearly everlasting, plantain-leaved pussytoes, and other Asteraceae.
Behavior. Strongly migratory in northern range — overwinters in southern US and Mexico, recolonizes north each spring. Caterpillars build silk-bound "tents" of leaves and frass to hide from predators. Often confused with the very similar Painted Lady.
§ Range
Across North America
§ Habitat
Open areas, meadows, gardens
§ Threats
Loss of pussytoes and cudweed host plants, garden pesticides.
§ Conservation status
According to the IUCN Red List, the american lady is currently classified as Least Concern.
§ What helps
Plant native pussytoes (Antennaria). Skip pesticides. Maintain weedy garden corners.
§ Further reading
- Wikipedia — American lady
- www.nwf.org — authoritative profile of Vanessa virginiensis
- iNaturalist · taxon 49297
- IUCN Red List — search for Vanessa virginiensis
- GBIF occurrence records
- Encyclopedia of Life — Vanessa virginiensis
§ Sources cited
- Butterflies and Moths of North America
- Xerces Society
- iNaturalist
