Similar species:
American Painted Lady has large eyespots below.
West Coast Lady has orange bar across black patch.
Life
Cycle: Barrel-shaped pale green eggs are laid singly on thistle
(Cirsium), Aster or mallow. Caterpillars range up to 1ΒΌ"(35mm).
Their color varies from purple with yellow back stripe to chartreuse
with black marbled appearance. Chrysalis 1" (25mm) pale green to
brown, bumpy, hangs upside down.
Flight: Two or more broods;
year-round in south, April-June until frost in north. Habitat:
Anywhere; Meadows, fields, open areas.
Range: All of North
America, south to Panama. Resident in Hawaii. |
Painted Lady Butterfly photo courtesy:
www.javajane.co.uk
Even though the Painted Lady cannot overwinter in
any stage above a certain (undetermined) latitude, it is perhaps the
most widespread butterfly in the world. It is found throughout
Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Most of North America has no
Painted Ladies at all between the first hard frosts of winter and
the advent of spring. In February and March, they begin emigrating
from their wintering grounds in the Southwest and perhaps other warm
regions; by late spring they have repopulated the entire continent.
Unlike the Monarch butterfly's round trip migrations, the Painted
Ladies only travel one way. The number of butterflies varies greatly
from year to year, although no one knows why. Various theories have
been advanced: parasite population swings, host plant variations,
nectar availability due to abundance of rain or lack thereof.
September 11, 2003 - The Chicagoland area is experiencing a
population explosion of Painted Lady butterflies, just as posited by
the above paragraph. They are everywhere, by the hundreds of
thousands. I found dozens of them grazing in just one small patch of
goldenrod, more butterflies than I'd ever seen in one place at one
time. Even the news media have picked up the story, and for those
idiots to take notice, it must be a widespread phenomenon.
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