Australian painted lady
Encyclopedia
Vanessa kershawi, commonly known as the Australian Painted Lady, is a butterfly
that is mostly confined to Australia
, although westerly winds have dispersed it to islands east of Australia, including New Zealand
. During spring adult butterflies migrate south in large numbers from northern states of Queensland and New South Wales. In 1889, this migration was so large that trains were unable to generate sufficient traction because of the large numbers of butterflies resting on the tracks.
A major food plant is Ammobium alatum
.
Vanessa kershawi is similar to the near-cosmopolitan Painted Lady
V. cardui and is sometimes considered a subspecies
of that butterfly. The Australian species' four ventral eyespots are less clearly defined, and it always sports at least three (often four) conspicuous blue pupil spots on each dorsal hindwings' eyespots. V. cardui has either a few tiny pupil spots, or more often none at all.
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
that is mostly confined to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, although westerly winds have dispersed it to islands east of Australia, including New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. During spring adult butterflies migrate south in large numbers from northern states of Queensland and New South Wales. In 1889, this migration was so large that trains were unable to generate sufficient traction because of the large numbers of butterflies resting on the tracks.
A major food plant is Ammobium alatum
Ammobium alatum
Ammobium alatum is a perennial Asteraceae native to Eastern Australia.The flowers are small and have white petals with a yellow centre, they can be dried. The stems are grey with an unusual external ribbing....
.
Distinguishing features
- See also Painted Lady#Distinguishing features
Vanessa kershawi is similar to the near-cosmopolitan Painted Lady
Vanessa cardui
Vanessa cardui is a well-known colourful butterfly, known as the Painted Lady, or in North America as the Cosmopolitan. This butterfly has a strange pattern of flying in a sort of screw shape.-Distribution:...
V. cardui and is sometimes considered a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of that butterfly. The Australian species' four ventral eyespots are less clearly defined, and it always sports at least three (often four) conspicuous blue pupil spots on each dorsal hindwings' eyespots. V. cardui has either a few tiny pupil spots, or more often none at all.