American painted lady American painted lady The American painted lady or American lady ("Vanessa virginiensis") is a butterfly found throughout North America. The larvae feed on various Asteraceae, such as the cudweeds (genus "Gnaphalium"), the pussytoes ("Antennaria"), and the everlastings ("Anaphalis"), which all belong to tribe Gnaphalieae. All stages of the life cycle can be found throughout temperate North America as well as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Occasionally individuals can be found as far as southwest Europe. "Vanessa virginiensis" is most easily distinguishable by its two large eyespots on the ventral side, whereas "V. cardui" has four small eyespots and "V. annabella"
Australian painted lady the painted lady, which suggests that it is a separate species. 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. The Australian painted and the painted lady have very similar lifestyles and behaviours, but the Australian painted lady lives in an arid and stressful environment. Australian painted lady colouration could be induced in painted lady butterflies by injecting the larvae with stress-inducing hormones and subjecting them