The American Painted Lady


Vanessa virginiensis Drury

Color:
The body of V. virginiensis is an orange-brown color. All four wings are orange-brown with distinctive brown patterns on each. The two upper wings have brown corners, on top, with white markings on each. The two lower wings have a row of blue spots laterally. The edges on all four wings have white markings with brown banding patterns (Klots, 1979, 108).

Size:
The American Painted Lady is 1.7-2.3 inches in width (Klots, 1979, 108), and 2.0-2.5 inches in height.

Food:
The caterpillar feeds on Everlastings (Klots, 1979, 108).

Geographic Range:
The butterfly ranges from central and southern Canada, south through Florida and Mexico (Klots, 1979, 108).

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