Painted ladies are probably the most widespread butterfly throughout the world, including North America, Africa, and Europe. They are salmon colored with black splotches on the top wings. A butterfly cycle includes egg, caterpillar(larva), chrysalis(pupa), and adult. The painted lady egg is single, barrel-shaped, and green. The caterpillar has purplish-black and yellow stripes. In chrysalis, it becomes lavender brown, bumpy, bluntly beaked, and hangs upside down. The preferred host plant is thistle, although they will certainly use other plants if necessary. The adult is the colorful stage where reproduction and mobility take place. The most prominent marking are four small eyespots on the hindwings. In North America, you may begin to see them in late Spring, unless you are in warm regions like the Sonoran desert, there you will see them all year. Painted ladies are found anywhere there are flowers, especially meadows, parks, and mountaintops. They are attracted to bright colors and sweet-smelling flowers like asters and cosmos. They also like purple clovers and milkweed, echinacea and orange mountain daisy flowers.

PAINTED LADY

PAINTED LADY