Vanessa annabella

Vanessa annabella is a resident of the western United States and southwestern Canada and is migratory in some parts of its range (Scott 1986). Habitats are open areas and suburbs. Host plants are herbaceous, and include species from families Malvaceae and Urticaceae (and perhaps others). Eggs are laid on the host plant singly. Individuals overwinter as adults. There are variable numbers of flights each year depending on latitude, with many flights all year in the southern part of their range, two flights in the Rocky Mountains, the first in midsummer, the second in the fall, and one flight in higher mountains (Scott 1986). Some sources consider V. annabella a subspecies of V. carye (Scott 1986).

Most similar to the Painted Lady (V. cardui), but annabella has an orange spot in place of the large white spot two-thirds up the leading edge of the forewing of cardui; annabella is also smaller. There are no named subspecies. 

Southern British Columbia and Alberta (occassionally straying to eastern Saskatchewan) south to northern Mexico (Layberry et al. 1998, Opler 1999). This species was once considered to be a subspecies of V. carye, which occurs in South America south to Argentina (Scott 1986).

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)) Pacific Slope from British Columbia to Baja California. Strays east to the western edge of the Great Plains.

Meadows, fields and pastures, most likley to be found in the southwestern corner of the province.

Comments: Open, often disturbed areas, wherever its larval hosts, the family Malvaceae and the genus Urtica, occur.

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

The larvae are known to feed on stinging nettle (Urtica dioica, Urticaceae) and garden hollyhock (Alcea rosea, Malvaceae) in BC (Guppy & Shepard 2001). Almost all other host records are in the Malvaceae (Scott 1986).

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300

10,000 to >1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Common; less so in deserts and high mountains.

Adults feed on flower nectar and manure (Scott, 1986).

Alberta records are primarily from late July to early October.

The pale green eggs are laid singly on the host plant (Scott 1986). the mature larvae can vary in colour from light brown to black, and bear yellow branched spines (Layberry et al. 1998). Like the American and Painted Lady, annabella occurs occasionally as a migrant in Alberta (although never as abundant as the Painted Lady can be). Layberry et al (1998) state annabella is a resident in southwestern Alberta and British Columbia, but all evidence suggests that it is not able to survive the Canadian winters and appears as a spring colonist from further south (Bird et al. 1995, Guppy & Shepard 2001).

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 2
Specimens with Barcodes: 11
Species With Barcodes: 1

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

There is 1 barcode sequence available from BOLD and GenBank.   Below is the sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.  See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen.  Other sequences that do not yet meet barcode criteria may also be available.

Download FASTA File

Not of concern.

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N4 - Apparently Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widespread, "weedy" species; very common in Calif. cities and suburbs on Malva negecia.

Degree of Threat: D : Unthreatened throughout its range, communities may be threatened in minor portions of the range or degree of variation falls within natural variation

Global Protection: Many to very many (13 to >40) occurrences appropriately protected and managed