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Butterfly (Painted Lady)

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Vanessa cardui
Butterfly (Painted Lady)

Range

They are a very wide spread butterfly found on all the world's continents except Australia and Antarctica. In North America they can be found from Canada, through the U.S. south to the deserts of Mexico, where they can migrate back and forth.

Habitat

They live in open areas like rocky slopes, fields, meadows, fields, gardens and parks.

Body Traits

They are orange with black blotches. They have dark edges on their front wings with a white bar and white spots in it. The back wing has black spots on the top side of wings and blue spots on the bottom side. Their wingspan is up to 3”.

Habits

Males perch and patrol during the afternoon for receptive females. In the West, males usually perch on shrubs on hilltops, while in the East, males perch on bare ground in open areas.

Diet

The caterpillar eats on thistles.

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District subscriptions provide huge group discounts for their schools. Email for a quote: sheri@exploringnature.org.

Reproduction

The females lay one egg on the tops of a thistle leaf.

Butterfly (Painted Lady)

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Macrolepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Vanessa
Species: V. cardui

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