AMERICAN LADY

Vanessa virginiensis

BRUSHFOOT FAMILY (Nymphalidae)

This butterfly has a wingspan of approximately 2 inches.  Dorsally, it is orange  with various dark spots and wide, black forewing tips with white spots and a yellowish dash just above the orange.  Ventrally, the forewing is orange basally with brown and white spots near the edge.  The hindwing is a webwork of brown and white spots and bars with large eyespots surrounded by a wide brown band near the edge of the wing.  The antennae are brown with bright white tips.  The very similar Painted Lady has small eye spots on the hindwing ventrally and all white spots on the dorsal forewing tip.  The mature caterpillar is about 1 1/2 inches in length, and is black with yellow crossbands and white spots.  The head is black and hairy.  The abdomen has branched spines. 

This species is never as common as the Painted Lady, but it can appear earlier in the spring.  It has been photographed in Fontenelle Forest in early May.  It can be seen nectaring on flowers or sitting on vegetation in sunny woodland areas.

Adults overwinter in southern regions before dispersing to the north in the spring.  However, it seems to be the most cold-tolerant of the painted ladies and its close relative, the Red Admiral.  A single larva ties up several leaves with silk and feeds within this shelter.  Larval foodplants are Field Pussytoes and related composites.