Australian painted lady Within Australia, the Australian painted lady is commonly found throughout southern Australia, below the Tropic of Capricorn. It is uncommon to find this butterfly in Queensland, and it is completely absent from the far north of the country, in the tropical rainforests. Although it is most common in Australia, it has also become common throughout New Zealand following periodic migrations across the sea, from Australia. Since the butterflies do not reproduce or overwinter in New Zealand, they are only considered an established species in Australia. Within its range, it is found in urban areas. The life cycle of the Australian
Painted lady and ventral sides. Those on the dorsal side are black, but in the summer morph sometimes small blue pupils are present. The American painted lady ("V. virginiensis") is most easily distinguishable by its two large hindwing eyespots on the ventral side. "V. virginiensis" also features a white dot within the subapical field of the forewings set in pink on the ventral side, and often as a smaller clean white dot in the orange of the dorsal side too. A less reliable indicator is the row of eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing; "V. virginiensis" often has two larger outer spots