Vanessa virginiensis

Vanessa virginiensis (the American painted lady) is resident throughout the United States and southern Canada, and migratory northward from there, and ranges south to Venezuela and the Greater Antilles, straying rarely to southwest Europe and other places (Scott 1986). Habitats are nearly everywhere in open areas from subtropics to lower Canadian zone. Host plants are herbaceous and include species from many families with a preference for Compositae (tribe Inuleae), but also including Borginaceae, Leguminosae, Malvaceae, Urticaceae, Balsaminaceae, and Scrophulariaceae. Eggs are laid on the host plant singly. Individuals overwinter as adults, and possibly pupae. There are variable numbers of flights each year depending on latitude, with many flights all year in the southern parts of their range, and only two flights in the north (Scott 1986).

The two large eyespots on the hindwing underside separate this species from the numerous smaller eyespots of the other ladies (V. cardui and V. annabella). There are no described subspecies.

Southern Canada (one record from Churchill, MB) south to Colombia (Opler 1999).

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)) Subarctic North America south to Mexico. Also naturalized in Hawaii.

No defined habitat preferences in Alberta; occurs as a rare migrant only.

Comments: Any disturbed or otherwise open setting with foodplants, easily locating even small forest openings. A transient colonizer and long distance migrant not capable of surviving year round in much of its range.

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 feed on member of the aster family (Asteraceae), particularly cudweed (Gnaphalium spp.) and and everlasting (Antennaria spp.) (Layberry et al. 1998). There are no larval records for western Canada (Guppy & Shepard 2001).

Vanessa virginiensis Drury: Nymphalidae, Lepidoptera
(observations are from Robertson, Graenicher, Reed, Clinebell, and Catling; this butterfly is the American Painted Lady)

Asclepiadaceae: Asclepias purpurascens [plpr sn] (Rb); Asteraceae: Antennaria neglecta [unsp sn] (Gr), Antennaria plantaginifolia [stam sn] (Rb), Aster drummondii sn (Gr), Aster laevis sn (Gr), Aster lanceolatus sn (Rb), Aster novae-angliae sn (Gr), Aster pilosus sn (Rb), Aster prenanthoides sn (Gr), Aster puniceus sn (Gr), Aster salicifolius sn (Rb), Bidens cernua sn (Rb), Boltonia asterioides sn (Rb), Cirsium altissimum sn (Gr), Cirsium arvense sn (Gr), Coreopsis palmata sn (Rb), Echinacea pallida sn (Rb, Cl), Echinacea purpurea sn (Rb), Eupatoriadelphus purpureus sn (Rb, Gr), Euthamia graminifolia sn (Rb, Gr), Helianthus grosseserratus sn (Rb), Helianthus strumosus sn (Gr), Heliopsis helianthoides sn (Gr), Rudbeckia laciniata sn (Rb), Silphium perfoliatum sn (Rb), Solidago juncea sn (Gr), Solidago speciosa sn (Re), Taraxacum officinale sn (Rb); Boraginaceae: Lithospermum canescens sn (Rb); Caprifoliaceae: Symphoricarpos occidentalis sn (Gr), Viburnum prunifolium sn (Rb); Caryophyllaceae: Stellaria media sn (Rb); Cornaceae: Cornus obliqua sn (Rb); Dipsacaceae: Dipsacus fullonum sn (Rb); Fabaceae: Cercis canadensis sn np (Rb), Melilotus alba sn (Rb), Trifolium pratense sn fq (Rb), Trifolium repens sn (Rb); Lamiaceae: Monarda bradburiana sn (Rb), Monarda fistulosa sn (Rb), Nepeta cataria sn (Rb), Pycnanthemum tenuifolium sn fq (Rb); Lauraceae: Sassafras albidum sn (Rb); Liliaceae: Camassia scilloides sn (Rb); Orchidaceae: Spiranthes vernalis sn np (Ct); Parnassiaceae: Parnassia glauca sn (Gr); Polemoniaceae: Phlox pilosa sn (Rb); Rosaceae: Crataegus intricata (Rb), Prunus americana sn (Rb), Prunus serotina [flwr sn] (Rb); Rubiaceae: Cephalanthus occidentalis sn (Rb); Salicaceae: Salix nigra [stam sn] (Rb); Scrophulariaceae: Veronicastrum virginicum sn (Rb); Violaceae: Viola cucullata sn (Rb)

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 in eastern part of range, rarer in western.

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

There are two Alberta records are from July and one from September.

Comments: Not certain how far north this can overwinter, but definitely not most or all of Virginia and North Carolina. Migrants arrive end of March or April in southern New Jersey and get into southern Canada in May. They then occur as breeders all summer and fall if conditions are favorably, usually with the last observations in late November or December in New Jersey. These observations and dates are similar for much of the eastern USA. Regular observations from mid January through February would strongly indicate overwintering.

The caterpillar is black with a complex pattern of yellow or white bands and lateral spots. The spines are black with a red base (Layberry et al. 1998). The American Lady is rare in western Canada, and occurs only as an occasional migrant; it is more common in eastern Canada, where it forms two additional generations after immigrating in May (Layberry et al. 1998). Judging by the dates, the Alberta specimens may have originated from migrants of these second and third generations; perhaps this species 'leap-frogs' northward with progressive generations in good years.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 10
Specimens with Barcodes: 46
Species With Barcodes: 1

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

There are 21 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.  Below is a 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 and other sequences.

Download FASTA File

A rare migrant, not established in Alberta.

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widespread, abundant, and tolerates disturbance.

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