Identifying the painted lady butterfly
Painted lady butterflies have a pale orange background on the upper side of their wings. The front wings, also known as the forewings, have black tips with white spots. The back wings, or hindwings, are covered with black holes.
Underneath their wings, these beautiful butterflies are pale brown with light blue eyespots. This might help them to blend in with their surroundings as a type of camouflage. Their wingspan is about 5cm, about the same length as your little finger.
They lay small, green eggs, and their caterpillars are black with a sprinkling of white spots. They have a funky yellow stripe down each side and are covered in small protective spines.
The painted lady butterfly looks quite similar to the monarch butterfly. Both are orange and black, with some white spots on their wings. To tell the difference, look at the edges of the butterfly’s wings. The painted lady butterfly has wings with scalloped edges, which look like a little wave pattern. The monarch butterfly has wings with smooth edges.
Six painted lady butterfly facts to amaze your friends
- The Vanessa Cardui butterfly can be found on every continent except Australia, where it is too hot, and Antarctica, where it is too cold. As such, they are the most widely spread species of butterfly.
- Painted lady butterflies can fly more than 100 miles daily while migrating. They can fly at nearly 30mph! That’s about the same speed as a car traveling through a town or city.
- Painted lady caterpillars build their tents from silk. They weave little silk tents to protect them while they form their chrysalis. You can even see these tents on thistle plants.
- They are also known as thistle or cosmopolitan butterflies because they love thistles for nectar and are globetrotters.
- Butterflies are solar-powered! Well, almost. Their wings have heat sensors, meaning they can’t fly if it is too cold. This is why you only really see butterflies during the day. They are diurnal.
- Since the 1970s, the amount of painted lady butterflies in the world has increased by 32%! So there are lots more of these beautiful creatures that you might be able to spot in parks and gardens.
What do painted lady butterflies eat?
The painted lady butterfly isn’t a fussy eater. During part of the painted lady butterfly’s life cycle, it lays its eggs on more than 100 different plants, including thistles, hollyhocks, and legumes, so that the caterpillars can eat these plants when they hatch.
The adult-painted lady butterfly sips nectar from many flowers, including thistles and asters.
Painted lady butterfly life cycle
The painted lady butterfly’s life cycle is called complete metamorphosis. It has four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Below, you can read more about the different stages of the painted lady butterfly’s life cycle.
Stage 1: Egg
The female-painted lady butterfly lays lots of green eggs on a leaf. This is so that the baby caterpillars have a ready-made food source when they hatch.
It usually takes seven days for the eggs to hatch. After that, the baby caterpillars eat their way out of the egg to escape.
Stage 2: Larva
The caterpillar eats a considerable amount of food. As it grows, it sheds its old skin like a snake. It spins a silk thread to help it stay attached to the leaves without falling off.
After two weeks of being a caterpillar, it is time for the next stage of the painted lady butterfly life cycle.
Stage 3: Pupa
The caterpillar creates a pupa, like a sleeping bag, for them to finish growing into butterflies. It doesn’t move for a week while it is hanging inside the pupa, but a lot is happening that we can’t see!
Stage 4: Adult
After a week in the pupa, a beautiful painted lady butterfly emerges. It has to wait a little while for its wings to dry out. But after an hour or so, it can fly.
Where can I find the painted lady butterfly?
These beautiful painted ladies usually migrate to and from northern Africa instead of hibernating in Britain. They can’t survive the cold of a British winter, so they typically arrive back in Britain in the spring. May and June are the most common months for them to make their way back to Britain.
They mostly live in the south of Britain, in Wales and England. However, some make their way to Scotland and even the Scottish islands!
Painted lady butterflies prefer well-lit, open spaces like fields and meadows. However, they can also be found on dunes and in marshes. Like most butterflies, they love buddleia because of its sweet nectar. You can plant this pretty flower to attract butterflies, including the painted lady, to your garden.
The female-painted ladies like to lay their eggs on nettles and thistles, where the caterpillars can eat the leaves once they hatch. When the caterpillars form a chrysalis, they hide in a tent constructed of leaves. Then, the new adults emerge from their chrysalises in August and September.
