Thursday 11 December 2008

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

OTHER NAMES: Cosmopolitan, Thistle Butterfly
Latin Etymology: Vanessa (from an Ancient Greek deity) cardui ("wild thistle" or "artichoke")
Adult Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) at Trevose Head, Cornwall - May 2012

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Length: ?  /  Wingspan: 50mm
UK Status: Least Concern IUCN Red List: Not Yet Evaluated

The Painted Lady is an unusual butterfly for the UK in that it is a long distance migrant, amazingly travelling to the Mediterranean and North Africa and back again.  It is a fairly attractive species, and tends to be widely if sparsely distributed, with some years being big influx years.  They are a very widely distributed species found on most continents.

 Related Species:
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Vanessa
SUBSPECIES: N/A

- Sighting Locations -
UNITED KINGDOM A fairly common Summer migrant species
 - Seen in Geddington and Trevose Head

Further Notes: 
BirdGuides, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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