Insects Unit: Painted Lady Butterfly
In general, the Painted Lady is a large butterfly (wing span 5–9 cm (2.0–3.5 in) identified by the black and white corners of its mainly deep orange, black-spotted wings. It has 5 white spots in the black forewing tips and while the orange areas may be pale here and there, there are no clean white dots in them. The hindwings carry 4 small submarginal eyespots on dorsal and ventral sides. Those on the dorsal side are black, but in the summer morph sometimes small blue pupils are present in some.
Fun Facts about Butterflies and Painted Lady Butterflies
• There are about 125,000 known species of butterflies and moths in the world—approximately 700 species of butterflies in North America alone!
• Butterflies are solar-powered! They need the sun to fly.
• Male Painted Ladies have smaller abdomens than females.
• Favorite butterfly flowers—aster, cosmos, thistle and buttonbush
• Favorite caterpillar plants—thistle, mallow, hollyhock, malva and sunflower
• Butterflies are diurnal (active during the day).
• Painted Lady Butterflies see a wider range of color and more shades of green than people do.
• The tiny scales attached to butterfly wings give the wings their color.
• Butterflies have taste sensors on their legs!
In the United States, the painted lady is also called “thistle butterfly” and “cosmopolitan butterfly.”
The lifecycle of a Painted Lady Butterfly has four stages and takes approximately 21 days. But what happens in 21 days is a complete makeover! From an egg laid on a leaf, to hatching as a tiny caterpillar that grows, eats and grows some more, to wrapping itself into a chrysalis and finally emerging as a butterfly that dries its wings in the sun before flying away on a breeze. It’s amazing!
