The answer to last week’s mystery is painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, pictured in photo below.
The painted lady is often confused with the monarch, because their color scheme is similar, but the painted lady is smaller, with a wingspan of 2-3 inches. It also lacks the vein pattern that monarchs are known for. Painted ladies also have a mottled black and brown underside with four eyespots.
The painted lady boasts the world’s farthest known butterfly migratory route, undertaking a phenomenal 9,000-mile round trip from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle. Some of the reasons for its widespread distribution include the wide variety of plants it feeds and lays eggs on, its ability to migrate to avoid winter, and its ability to continuously reproduce.
The painted lady makes their return migration journey at high altitude, out of view of butterfly observers on the ground. Radar records reveal that painted ladies fly at an
average altitude of over 500 meters on their southbound trip and can clock up
speeds of 30 mph allowing it to travel up to 100 miles per day during its migration
by selecting favorable conditions
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
Theresa Dejter says
I believe the red flower which my hummingbirds love is lobelia cardinalis? I ordered 5 packages of seeds … hand harvested and organic
James Wilson says
Yes, the Painted Lady does make an incredible journey, there and back again. But it is not the same butterfly that does this. I found this quote: “The whole journey is not undertaken by individual butterflies but is a series of steps by up to six successive generations so Painted Ladies returning to Africa in the autumn are several generations removed from their ancestors who left Africa earlier in the year.”
In the U.S., the Monarch has 4 generations heading north frtom deep in Mexico in the spring and summer and the fourth generation makes the entire return trip to its wintering site in Mexico. My quick search did not reveal how the generations of the Painted Lady unfold.