painted lady
(Vanessa cardui)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy
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Description |
Painted lady is a migratory, medium-sized, brushfooted butterfly. It has a wingspan of 2″ to 2⅞″. Males and females look alike. The summer form is larger and brighter orange, the winter form is paler and has smaller black marks. The outer edge of the forewing is slightly scalloped and the tip (apex) is pointed. The upperside of the forewing is orangish-brown at the base, pinkish- or reddish-orange in the median area, and brownish-orange in the postmedian and marginal areas. The margin has a broad, black border with a prominent series of white, crescent-shaped marks (lunules) on the outer margin. Within the marginal border in the apical area there is a row of round, disconnected, orange spots and a row of thin, crescent-shaped, white spots. The apical area is black with a large, elongated, postmedian, always white spot at the leading (costal) edge and a curved row of smaller, round, submarginal, white spots. A jagged, black, interrupted, median band completely isolates an orange median spot. The hindwing is rounded and slightly scalloped with series of white lunules on the outer margin that are sometimes connected to form a white fringe. The upper side of the hindwing is brownish-orange with a orangish-brown base and four bands of black spots: a marginal band of six disconnected spots; a submarginal band of six flattened spots, the outer four disconnected, the inner two (closest to the body) connected and with blue centers; a postmedian band of four round, disconnected spots; and a median band of four irregular, more or less connected spots. The postmedian spots on the summer form have blue centers, while those of the winter form do not. The underside of the forewing is pinkish-orange near the base, orange in the median area, grayish-brown in the apical area, with white and black markings mirroring those on the upper surface. The underside of the hindwing is irregularly banded and mottled with light and dark brown edged with white. There are two rows of spots: a postmedian row of four large eyespots with blue centers; and a submarginal row of eight flattened blue spots rimmed with black, the inner two spots (closest to the body) connected. The caterpillar is variable in color and up to 1¾″ long. Though fierce looking, they are harmless to the touch. The thorax and abdomen may be green, yellow, or pink to nearly black. They are finely spotted and moderately covered with long, straight, hair-like structures (seta). The spots are the expanded bases of the setae. There is usually a dark stripe bordered with two thin pale stripes in the middle of the upper (dorsal) surface. There are often light-colored spots between and just below the spiracles on most abdominal segments. These spots sometimes are joined into a single broad, jagged stripe. On the thorax and each abdominal segment there is a long, thick, stiff, branched spine (scolus) in the middorsal, subdorsal, and supraspiracular regions. The head is dark and is densely covered with long, straight, unbranched, white hairs but no scoli. The base of the leg-like structure (proleg) is densely hairy. Mature caterpillars are found from May onward. |
Size |
Wingspan: 2¾″ to 2⅞″ |
Similar Species |
American lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is more orange above. The large spot in the apical area of the upperside of the forewing is often pale orange. The submarginal white spots in the apical area are smaller. The black medial band does not create an isolated orange spot. The postmedial spots on the hindwing are larger, are usually touching, and usually at least two of them have blue centers. There are only two eyespots on the underside of the hindwing, and those eyespots are larger. There is a large, pale, median band inward from the eyespots. |
Habitat |
Fields, meadows, pastures, woodland edges, roadsides, and other open areas. |
Biology |
Season |
Usually two broods: early May to late May and June to mid-October |
Behavior |
Early stage caterpillars create solitary shelters by folding upward the sides of the leaf and securing it with silk. |
Life Cycle |
The male alternately perches on open bare ground waiting for a receptive female to fly by, and patrols and defends an area in search of a receptive female. After mating, the female lays green, ribbed, barrel-shaped eggs singly on the upperside of host plant leaves. The larva molts four times before pupating. The second brood adult migrates south in small groups in the fall, overwinters in a warmer area, returns north in large numbers in early May, and dies by late May. |
Larva Hosts |
Plants of the aster (Asteraceae) family, especially thistles (Carduus spp. and Cirsium spp.) and burdock (Arctium spp.); also legumes (Fabaceae), and mallow (Malvaceae). |
Adult Food |
Flower nectar, mostly from 3′ to 6′ tall plants in the aster (Asteraceae) family. |
Distribution |
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Sources 7, 21, 24, 27, 29, 30, 71, 75, 82, 83. Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 6/24/2025). |
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| 6/24/2025 | ||
Occurrence |
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Uncommon |
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Migration |
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Painted lady butterflies migrate south beginning in August and continuing through November. They overwinter in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. They migrate north in the spring in most years, temporarily repopulating the United States and Canada. Some years they do not migrate at all. In years of much rain on the wintering grounds the northward migrations are enormous. The El Niño of 2015 lasted into the spring of 2016 and brought much rain to the wintering grounds of the painted lady. Minnesotans saw a huge influx of painted lady butterflies in the summer of 2017. Observers from the Twin Cities to Detroit Lakes and Pennington County have reported seeing “15 plus,” “dozens”, “lots and lots,” and “plentiful” painted lady butterflies. Lora in Corcoran reports them “swarming the soy bean field across the road.” Ruth in Big Stone County reports seeing “clouds of them.” |
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Taxonomy |
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Order |
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Superfamily |
Papilionoidea (butterflies) |
Family |
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Subfamily |
Nymphalinae (checkerspots, anglewings, peacocks, and allies) |
Tribe |
Nymphalini (ladies, anglewings, and allies) |
Genus |
Vanessa (ladies and related admirals) |
Subgenus |
Cynthia (painted ladies) |
Subordinate Taxa |
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Synonyms |
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Cynthia cardui Cynthia elymi Cynthia litoralis Papilio belladonna Papilio carduelis Papilio cardui Parameis cardui Pryrameis martha-maria Pyrameis brunnea-albimaculata Pyrameis carduelina Pyrameis carduelis Pyrameis cardui Pyrameis cardui ssp. brunnea-albimaculata Pyrameis cardui ssp. conjuncta Pyrameis cardui ssp. emielymi Pyrameis cardui ssp. huntera Pyrameis cardui ssp. infaochracea Pyrameis cardui ssp. infrabrunnea Pyrameis cardui ssp. infraflava Pyrameis cardui ssp. infragrisea Pyrameis cardui ssp. infranigrans Pyrameis cardui ssp. inops Pyrameis cardui ssp. japonica Pyrameis cardui ssp. litoralis Pyrameis cardui ssp. minor Pyrameis cardui ssp. ochracea Pyrameis cardui ssp. rosacea Pyrameis cardui ssp. septiespupillata Pyrameis cardui ssp. sexispupillata Pyrameis cardui ssp. universa Pyrameis elymnias Pyrameis flava Pyrameis japonica Pyrameis johni Pyrameis leachiana Pyrameis minor Pyrameis pallens Pyrameis pallida Pyrameis rogeri Pyrameis rosacea Pyrameis rosea Pyrameis schoenfellneri Pyrameis subfracta Pyrameis takesakiana Pyrameis varini Vanessa albicans Vanessa albipuncta Vanessa ate Vanessa belladonna Vanessa carduelis Vanessa cardui ssp. albipuncta Vanessa cardui ssp. nigripuncta Vanessa cardui ssp. pallida Vanessa cardui ssp. stictus Vanessa carnea Vanessa elymi Vanessa inops Vanessa inornata Vanessa jacksoni Vanessa koreana Vanessa minor Vanessa nigripuncta Vanessa pulchra Vanessa takesakiana Vanessa universa Vanessa wiskotti |
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Common Names |
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cosmopolitan painted lady |
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Glossary
Costal margin
The leading edge of the forewing of insects.
Lunule
A crescent-shaped mark. On some butterflies, the marks, usually white, found in a series on the outer margin of the wing.
Proleg
A fleshy structure on the abdomen of some insect larvae that functions as a leg, but lacks the five segments of a true insect leg.
Pupa
The life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. In caterpillars, the chrysalis.
Scolus
A spiny, branched projection from a larval body wall, the branches terminating with a single stiff, hair-like or bristle-like tip.
Seta
A usually rigid bristle- or hair-like structure on butterflies and moths used to sense touch. Plural: setae.
Spiracle
A small opening on the surface of an insect or arachnid through which it breathes.
Visitor Photos |
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Bobbi Johnson |
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Alfredo Colon |
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... an Ambush Bug feeds on a Painted Lady. |
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Dan W. Andree |
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Painted Lady Butterflies... There are so many of them in areas. Must of been a major hatch out. |
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Sarah A. |
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they can't stay away from this sedum plant today |
Lynn Rubey |
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A Painted Lady Butterfly on Bull Thistle in The Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge. With the wings folded together you can see a clear veiw of the underside of this beautiful butterfly. |
A painted Lady Butterfly on purple loosestrife in The Big Stone Lake State Park Meadowbrook area. |
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The underside of The Painted Lady in The Big Stone Lake State Park Meadowbrook area. |
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Gerry Garcia |
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Norm & Peg Dibble |
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September 2017, We have many large Autumn Joy Sedums all around the yard and every one of them had this many Painted Lady butterflies on them. It was a shocking and wonderful sight! |
Butterflies on the Joe Pye Weed also. They were everywhere. I read on the internet “Minnesotans saw a huge influx of painted lady butterflies in the summer of 2017.” |
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mininthecity |
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Painted Lady on Orange Bloom |
Painted Lady viewing Lake Superior |
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Nanook |
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Sept 21, 2017 at least 100 visiting this week. |
Margot Avey |
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Anne |
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On Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 over 20 butterflies were on the sedum in our backyard - it's the first time we've ever seen this. It's been great to read about the migration and learn about Painted Lady butterflies! |
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Susan |
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Lots and lots of these beautiful butterflies on our backyard flowers…take a look. Once I counted them and there were over 40! |
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Loni Gradick |
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These seem smaller than monarchs, any ideas? I am a master gardener & have never seen them this plentiful in my yard before. Yes, I have many roses, milkweed, phlox, sedum, rudbeckia. It is a marvelous spectacle that I stop & stare in wonder many times a day.... My dog, Lucy & I dress up as monarchs & give out milkweed seeds at Halloween (candy too, of course). |
Kathy Johnson |
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I have had large numbers (15+ at a time) of painted ladies in my yard the past few weeks. They love the tithonia and the ligularia. |
Faith Ann |
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Dozens of them are feeding on the many, mature and blooming Stonecrop plants in my yard. This is the first year they have appeared in such numbers to be noticeable. I typically see several varieties of bees feeding on these plants ... this year the bees have some lovely competition! |
Lora Nathan Homuth |
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I believe we have lots of Painted Ladies in Corcoran MN right now. They are swarming the soy bean field across the road and coming to visit my perennial beds. |
Bill Reynolds |
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Painted Lady, Pennington Co. MN, 9/6/2013 |
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It's been a banner year up here for the Painted Lady Butterfly. I don't recall ever seeing the numbers in in the past like I have this year. Very large second emergence for this butterfly this year. I was just out to a patch of Burdock, in which at least 20 Ladies were working for a bit of nectar. Looking about the surrounding area there are even more working Sow Thistle and Goldenrod. |
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Tom Baker |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Slideshows |
Painted Lady |
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About
Copyright DianesDigitals Painted Lady - Vanessa cardui |
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) |
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Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) |
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Visitor Videos |
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Gerry Garcia |
painted lady 01 |
About
painted lady (Vanessa cardui) Lyndale Park, Minneapolis, MN Video by Gerry Garcia http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/painted_lady.html |
painted lady 02 |
About
painted lady (Vanessa cardui) Lyndale Park, Minneapolis, MN Video by Gerry Garcia http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/painted_lady.html |
painted lady 03 |
About
painted lady (Vanessa cardui) Lyndale Park, Minneapolis, MN Video by Gerry Garcia http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/painted_lady.html |
Other Videos |
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Painted Lady Butterflies Develop, Emerge in Time Lapse |
About
Uploaded on Nov 13, 2008 Here we see the later life stages of several Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)Butterflies. Once the caterpillars are mature, they suspend themselves upside-down, by attaching a body part called the "cremaster" to a silken pad on the twig, much like the way Velcro works. In about 1 day, the caterpillar sheds its final skin to complete the pupation process. Inside the pupa, the caterpillar has essentially liquified itself into a soup of cells. During the next 12-14 days, metamorphosis takes place - the cells are "re-arranged" and transformed into the adult insect. For most of this process, there is no visible change on the outside, but as the final few days approach, the developing adult butterfly can be seen through the semi-transparent pupal case. The butterfly's wing colors and pattern can be seen to darken. Finally, the fully developed adult separates from the pupal shell about an hour before it emerges, a process called "eclosion". Once the adult emerges, it takes only a few minutes to expand its wings by pumping a body fluid into the wings' vein structure. After a couple of hours, the fluid dries and hardens, leaving the wings rigid enough propel it in flight. The soundtrack is "Painted Ladies Theme" from the StarSpin EP/CD by Technician (yours truly), MP3 downloads and CDs available at the Technician website: HTTP://technician.jcmdi.com Enjoy the show! :-) Note: This is copyrighted material, however, you may download this footage directly from YouTube and use it free of charge in your own non-profit/non-commercial YouTube videos. The full free usage policy, and copyright notice/claim and partner ad info can be found here: |
ヒメアカタテハの蛹化 Painted Lady butterfly pupation time lapse |
About
Published on May 20, 2013 ヒメアカタテハの蛹化。painted lady butterfly life cycle. Painted Lady. Painted Lady Butterfly emerging. painted lady butterfly chrysalis. Caterpillar. pupa. pupation. painted lady butterfly life cycle. Painted lady butterfly . distelfalter. distelvlinder. painted lady spinning pupa. painted lady butterfly chrysalis. pupating caterpillar. Pupating. painted lady spinning pupa. Vanessa cardui. cosmopolitan butterfly. Boyalı xanım. репейница. geschilderde dame. senyora pintada. Señora pintada. leptir čičkov. målad lady. señora pintada. nalíčená žena. лептир чичков. nalíčená žena. Distelfalter. benekli kırmızı kelebek. bogáncspillangó. дяволска пеперуда. Репейница. leptir čičkov. senhora pintada. wanita dicat. Usninukas. репейница. 작은 멋쟁이. Time Lapse. pupa. krizalidë. kepompong. chwiler. χρυσαλλίδα. crisálida. ดักแด้. kotelo. какавида. con nhộng. شفیره poczwarka. kūniņa. 번데기. Admiral butterfly. 化蛹的幼蟲. 蝶. 蛹. 幼虫. 毛虫から蛹に. 動画. video. PM6:30 20/5/2013 JAPAN. youtube. wanita dicat. Time Lapse. unboxing. Butterfly. féileacán. kəpənək. فراشة flutur. թիթեռ. Farfalla. פלאַטערל kupu-kupu. Glöynnod Byw. метелик. تیتلی liblikas. papilio. vlinder. Papallona. bolboreta. πεταλούδα. პეპელა papiyon. leptir. kupu. fjäril. mariposa. motýľ. metulj. kipepeo. лептир. ผีเสื้อ. paparo. motýl. Schmetterling. kelebek. pillangó. perhonen. papillon. пеперуда. bướm. פרפר матылёк. پروانه motyl. leptir. borboleta. пеперутка. Rama-rama. npuj npaim. papilio. tauriņš. peteliškė. fluture. бабочка. 나비. 蝴蝶. 蝶. |
Vanessa Cardui (Painted Lady) on coleus plant |
About
Uploaded on Feb 13, 2010 Painted Lady (Vanessa Cardui) butterfly from Summer 2009, sitting on my hand, afterwards moving onto a coleus plant at my window, filmed at home. |
Painted Lady - Vanessa cardui - Butterfly Music Video |
About
Uploaded on Aug 27, 2010 These little ladies are quite common in our Zinnia patch, and not nearly as skittish as the Monarchs when it comes to having their picture taken. The guitar in the audion portion has two capos on it. A 6-string capo below the 4th fret and a 5-string capo (actually a banjo capo, but it works well for 5 guitar strings) below the 6th fret. When I play a "D" chord, it comes out as G# with a low G# bass drone. |
Vanessa Cardui - Where Poetry Fails |
About
Published on Apr 19, 2012 The first track from 'Thought Experiment', debut solo album from Canadian female recording artist Vanessa Cardui, as heard on CBC 1, CJTR, and DruidCast. www.vanessacardui.ca Painted Lady photos and Thought Experiment Release photos by Andy Letch of SpecOpsPhoto. Outdoor shots by Tremaine Lea. Backstage photos by Sora. Other photos by Erin Lindley. This is incredible, finally I've found you And now I'm falling, falling so hard You could say anything Falling so hard, falling so hard I would do anything just to be near you Falling so hard |
Visitor Sightings |
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| Alfredo Colon 9/29/2019 |
Location: Woodbury, Minnesota |
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| Dan W. Andree 8/30/2019 |
Location: Rural Norman Co. Mn. Painted Lady Butterflies... There are so many of them in areas. Must of been a major hatch out. |
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| Lynn Rubey 8/29/2019 |
Location: Glencoe, MN they can't stay away from this sedum plant today |
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| Karen Otto 8/17/2019 |
Location: backyard Owatonna, MN Have seen several in the area in the last couple of weeks |
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| Lynn Rubey 8/5/2019 |
Location: Big Stone Lake State Park A Painted Lady Butterfly on Bull Thistle in The Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge. With the wings folded together you can see a clear veiw of the underside of this beautiful butterfly. |
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| Gerry Garcia 8/4/2019 |
Location: Lyndale Park, Minneapolis, MN |
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| Lynn Rubey 8/3/2019 |
Location: Big Stone Lake State Park A painted Lady Butterfly on purple loosestrife in The Big Stone Lake State Park Meadowbrook area. |
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| Mary August 21st to present - September11th-2017 |
Location: Marshall,MN They are all over Marshall by the hundreds, with many Monarchs as well. They are on various trees, shrubs, and thistle plants |
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| mininthecity 2/24/2018 |
Location: Apostle Islands in Lake Superior Painted Lady viewing Lake Superior |
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| Norm & Peg Dibble September 2017 |
Location: Maple Grove, MN We have many large Autumn Joy Sedums all around the yard and every one of them had this many Painted Lady butterflies on them. It was a shocking and wonderful sight! |
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| Nanook 9/21/2017 |
Location: North Shore Lake Superior Sept 21, 2017 at least 100 visiting this week. |
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| Susan 9/11/2017 |
Location: St. Paul, MN Lots and lots of these beautiful butterflies on our backyard flowers…take a look. Once I counted them and there were over 40!. |
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| Muriel Hachfeld 9/10/2017 |
Location: Detroit Lakes, MN approximately 12 on Sedum in the sunshine |
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| Anne 9/7/2017 |
Location: St. Paul, MN Over 20 on the sedum plants in the late afternoon sun on Thursday, Sept. 7th. The next day there were just a couple in my yard - one was on an overripe tomato that had burst open. |
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| Kathy Johnson 9/7/2017 |
Location: Anoka, MN I have had large numbers (15+ at a time) of painted ladies in my yard the past few weeks. They love the tithonia and the ligularia. |
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| Loni Gradick 9/6/2017 |
Location: Plymouth, MN These seem smaller than monarchs, any ideas? I am a master gardener & have never seen them this plentiful in my yard before. Yes, I have many roses, milkweed, phlox, sedum, rudbeckia. It is a marvelous spectacle that I stop & stare in wonder many times a day.... My dog, Lucy & I dress up as monarchs & give out milkweed seeds at Halloween (candy too, of course). |
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| Faith Ann 9/6/2017 |
Location: Victoria, Minnesota Dozens of them are feeding on the many, mature and blooming Stonecrop plants in my yard. This is the first year they have appeared in such numbers to be noticeable. I typically see several varieties of bees feeding on these plants ... this year the bees have some lovely competition! |
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| Glory 9/7/2017 |
Location: Edina, MN 3 were feeding on sedum plant |
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| Mary Sue Keating 9/7/2017 |
Location: Foley, Mn We have a large group of painted ladies in our perennial garden. They seem to be especially attracted to the sedum. |
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| Lora Nathan Homuth 9/6/2017 |
Location: Corcoran, MN I believe we have lots of Painted Ladies in Corcoran MN right now. They are swarming the soy bean field across the road and coming to visit my perennial beds. |
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| Margot Avey 8/31/2017 |
Location: in my backyard St Louis Park, MN |
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| Ruth Anderson 8/30/2017 |
Location: Big Stone County Very prevalent in Big Stone County by Clinton, MN. They are feasting on heliotrope, lantana, and sunflowers in my yard -- but there are hundreds sitting on gravel roads in the area, clouds of them! |
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| Bill Reynolds 8/4/2017 |
Location: Pennington Co. MN It's been a banner year up here for the Painted Lady Butterfly. I don't recall ever seeing the numbers in in the past like I have this year. Very large second emergence for this butterfly this year. I was just out to a patch of Burdock, in which at least 20 Ladies were working for a bit of nectar. Looking about the surrounding area there are even more working Sow Thistle and Goldenrod. |
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| Bill Reynolds 9/6/2003 |
Location: Pennington Co. Minnesota |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
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Created: 8/31/2005 Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |