Australian painted lady

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Australian Painted Lady
Australian painted lady (Vanessa kershawi) in Tasmania
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera Family: Nymphalidae Subfamily: Nymphalinae Tribe: Nymphalini Genus: Vanessa Subgenus: Cynthia Species: V. (C.) kershawi
Binomial name
Vanessa (Cynthia) kershawi (McCoy, 1868)
Synonyms
Cynthia kershawi McCoy, 1868 Vanessa cardui kershawi

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.

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.

A major food plant is Ammobium alatum.

Vanessa cardui; compare hindwing eyespots.

Vanessa kershawi; Adult soon after hatching. Note blue center of hindwing eyespots.

[edit] References

• CSIRO Ecowatch Australia, Vanessa kershawi