Australian painted lady Australian painted lady The Australian painted lady ("Vanessa kershawi") butterfly is mostly confined to Australia, although westerly winds have dispersed it to islands east of Australia, including New Zealand. Debate surrounds the taxonomy of this species. Some believe that the Australian painted lady should be a subspecies of the painted lady ("Vanessa cardui") due to the similarity in lifestyle and behaviour. Furthermore, the painted lady is found around the globe, but Australia is the only location in which it varies enough to be considered a separate species. However, due to the distinct genitalia of the males, and variation in colouration,
West Coast lady West Coast lady The West Coast lady ("Vanessa annabella") is one of three North American species of brush-footed butterflies known colloquially as the "painted ladies". "V. annabella" occurs throughout much of the western US and southwestern Canada. The other two species are the cosmopolitan "Vanessa cardui" (painted lady) and the eastern "Vanessa virginiensis" (American painted lady). This species has also been considered a subspecies of the South American, "Vanessa carye", and is frequently misspelled as "anabella". Aside from general differences in distribution, "V. annabella" can be distinguished from the other two painted ladies of North America as follows: Most conspicuously,