American Painted Lady
American Painted Lady ( Vanessa virginiensis )
The American Painted Lady ( Vanessa virginiensis ) ( Syn: Cynthia virginiensis ) is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae ( Nymphalidae ).
- 4.1 Notes and references
- 4.2 Literature
Features
Butterfly
The moths reach a wingspan of 45-67 millimeters. The front wings are colored orange to yellow-brown. On black Apex to show several different sized snow-white to milky white spots. The root box has a light brownish color. In midfield, a black spot drawing is recognizable. The Saumrand is indented strongly arcuate. The hind wings have the same color as the front wings and the wings have the outer edge several blue nucleated ocelli. The underside of the hindwing is whitish, marbled in various shades of brown and shows the outer edge of two very large species-typical ocelli, which are in a wide brown area.
Preimaginal stages
The egg is pale yellow- green. The caterpillar with black head has a whitish to yellow color and a number of spines on each segment, many narrow black transverse lines, broad black bands at the thorns on the upper half of the body and several large white spots on the back. The black spines have a dark red to orange base and are highly branched. On the side of a whitish, yellowish or orange belt runs. The doll is gray-white, yellow, pale brown or golden - green with pink areas. She always has dark spots and brown laterally and ventrally extending strips.
Similar Species
- Painted Lady ( Vanessa cardui )
- Indian Red Admiral ( Vanessa indica)
The above two species differ primarily by the absence of the two very large eye-spots on the underside of the hind wings. They have, in contrast, there four much smaller ocelli.
Geographical distribution and habitat
American Painted Lady come from the USA to Venezuela and Guatemala, and in the Greater Antilles, in the Canary Islands and to the southwest of the Iberian peninsula down to earth. They are considered as internal migrants, put as much flying strong moths sometimes back even long distances and can thereby carry on the wind and thus obtain regularly the lower elevations of southern Canada and sometimes even Hawaii, the Galapagos Islands, Labrador, Iceland, the British Isles, the Azores, Madeira. In some of these areas they multiply too. Low temperatures in winter but they can not survive. They prefer dry, warm and open area that is rich covered with flowers. The population of Tenerife was away plummeted over 30 years and was considered extinct until 2004, a small population was rediscovered. 2009 was also discovered on the island of La Palma, a population. A stable population, there are today in the south of Portugal, from which the moth repeatedly spread quickly to the Iberian Peninsula until the deposits are probably destroyed by a cold winter again.
Way of life
In the southern United States (southern California, southern Texas, southern Florida ) flies the way throughout the year, further north, it forms two generations, the second of which Winters. In Ottawa, the moths fly from May to September. In Tenerife, the American Painted Lady just does not fly in the cold season from November to February. In the Iberian Peninsula, the species forms three to four generations per year, which fly from April to November. The last generation overwinters as moths.
Eggs are laid by the moths individually on the upper leaf surface of the caterpillar food plants. Young caterpillars live together in cocoons, and plants for the hair are used. Older caterpillars live individually in spun leaves.
The caterpillars feed on a wide variety of plants. In North America they live, for example, to
- (Asteraceae ) Ruhr herbs ( Gnaphalium ): Gnaphalium palustre, Gnaphalium obtusifolium, Gnaphalium bicolor, Gnaphalium purpureum; Mountain Everlasting ( Antennaria ): Antennaria parvifolia, Antennaria plantaginifolia, Antennaria neodioica; Anaphalis margaritacea, American Moxa (Artemisia douglasiana ), wormwood (Artemisia absinthium ) Artemisia stellerianat, Artemisia ludoviciana, Burdock Arctium lappa, creeping thistle ( Cirsium arvense ), Ring thistles ( Carduus ), thistle ( Onopordum acanthium ), milk thistle ( Silybum marianum ), sunflower (Helianthus ), apparent asters ( Vernonia ), Senedo maritime, Senedo cineraria
- Viper's bugloss ( Echium vulgare), forget- me-not ( Myosotis)
- Lupinien (Lupinus )
- Hollyhock ( Althaea rosea), mallow ( Malva )
- Nettles (Urtica )
- Red Orange Balsam ( Impatiens capensis )
- Snapdragons (Antirrhinum )
- Genera in the tribe Inuleae
The Raupennahrungspfanze on Tenerife is unknown. For Europe, Ruhr herbs ( Gnaphalium ), Everlasting ( Antennaria ) and called burdock ( Arctium ) as forage crops.