Other names: Cosmopolitan Scientific name: Vanessa cardui Scientific class: Lepidoptera, from the Greek words "lepis" meaning scale, and "pteron" meaning wing.

Fun Facts:

• Butterflies are solar-powered! They need the sun to fly.

• Male Painted Ladies have smaller abdomens than females.

• Favorite butterfly flowers = aster, cosmos, thistle, and buttonbush.

• Favorite caterpillar plants = thistle, mallow, hollyhock, malva, and sunflower.

• Butterflies are diurnal (active during the day).

• Painted Lady Butterflies see more patterns, a wider range of color, and more shades of green than people do.

• The tiny scales attached to butterfly wings give the wings their color.

• Butterflies have taste sensors on their legs.

They are found all over the North American continent, ranging north into the sub-arctic and south to Panama. Painted Ladies are also found in Asia, Africa, and Europe - they especially like living near flowery meadows and mountaintops.

These butterflies migrate from south to north in the late spring. In cold climates, you can see Painted Ladies between March and October. In some southern deserts, they live all year round.

What does it look like?
The butterfly has four wings - two hindwings and two forewings - that are symmetrical in pattern and shape. The upper surface of Painted Lady Butterfly wings is mostly black, brown, and orange. There are also some white spots and red and blue markings. The underside of the wings are gray, with white and red markings. Butterflies have three pair of legs - each divided into five parts. At the end of the legs are tiny spurs that help them land and stay on plants or perches.

Predators to watch for: Defense against predators: Eggs bugs Caterpillar ants, birds, lizards short spine Chrysalis birds and lizards shaking Butterfly birds, spiders, frogs, lizards good eyes, camouflage

The Wonderful Painted Lady Butterfly
The Life Cycle - A Timeline of Transformation

Four Stages of a Painted Lady Butterfly:

The Egg (3 to 5 days) Adult female butterflies lay their eggs on plants that Painted Lady caterpillars like to eat, like thistle. The eggs are the size of a pin head, each one containing a caterpillar beginning to grow.

The Larva or caterpillar comes out! (5 to 10 days) The hungry caterpillar uses its strong jaws to munch through leaves, eating constantly and growing quickly. As it eats, the caterpillar's skin gets tighter. Soon it sheds this tight skin, emerging with new skin underneath. Each caterpillar changes skin four times before it's fully grown. After three weeks, this hairy, black and yellow caterpillar stops growing - it's almost 2 inches long!

The chrysalis - metamorphosis begins. (7 to 10 days) The caterpillar finds a safe place to rest. With a silk thread that comes out of a hole just below its mouth (spinneret), the caterpillar spins a silk pad to attach to. The caterpillar hangs from this pad. Soon, the caterpillars' skin splits open, from head to abdomen, revealing a shiny green case underneath - the chrysalis. What is happening in the chrysalis? Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar is becoming completely liquid and reforming itself into a butterfly. The butterfly pushes from inside and slowly struggles out, until the case splits open. (See poster.)

The butterfly emerges! (2 weeks) When the butterfly first emerges from the chrysalis, its wings are soft and crumpled. The tired butterfly rests, and then slowly unfolds its wings to dry. After a few hours, the butterfly will be ready to fly. The Painted Lady Butterfly has a 2-week life span. During that time, its main goal is to reproduce and lay eggs so the cycle can begin again!