Vanessa cardui

Vanessa cardui

Painted Lady

(Linnaeus, 1758) Catalogue of Life

IUCN status
Least Concern (LC) IUCN
GBIF observations
1,580,578 GBIF
iNaturalist observations
200,485 iNaturalist
Taxonomic rank
Species
Description

Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan.

Status

COL status
accepted
Name status
acceptable
Nomenclatural code
zoological
Non-butterfly
Off
Hybrid

Larval host plants NHM HOSTS

  • Cirsium sp. Asteraceae · Cirsium
  • Artemisia sp. Asteraceae · Artemisia
  • Cirsium arvense Asteraceae · Cirsium
  • Cirsium vulgare Asteraceae · Cirsium
  • Cynara scolymus Asteraceae · Cynara
  • Lupinus sp. Fabaceae · Lupinus
  • Echium vulgare Boraginaceae · Echium
  • Malva sp. Malvaceae · Malva
  • Urtica dioica Urticaceae · Urtica
  • Alcea rosea Malvaceae · Alcea
  • Anchusa sp. Boraginaceae · Anchusa
  • Arctium lappa Asteraceae · Arctium

+178 more recorded host plant(s)

Related species
Best School Day of My Life!
© Göran Sjöberg

Best School Day of My Life!

In the spring of 2012, students from Ludvigsbergsskolan in Valbo experienced the joy of releasing their painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) on Butterfly Road in Grinduga.

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