Painted lady as in corresponding "V. virginiensis". The Australian painted lady ("V. kershawi") is quite similar to "V. cardui". Its four ventral eyespots are less clearly defined, and it always sports at least three (often four) blue pupil spots on its dorsal hindwing. Caterpillars are found mainly on "Ammobium alatum". The lifespan of a painted lady butterfly is two to four weeks. The species undergoes complete metamorphosis which has recently been investigated using microtomography. Painted lady The Cynthia group of colourful butterflies, commonly called painted ladies, comprises a subgenus of the genus "Vanessa" in the family Nymphalidae. They are well known throughout
Australian painted lady to lowered temperatures. This demonstrates the phenotypic plasticity, or the tendency for visible traits to vary with changing environmental conditions, of the painted lady butterflies. It also suggests that the painted lady is the ancestral form, and environmental stress slowly drove speciation by adaptation into the Australian painted lady. In other words, the Australian painted lady most likely evolved from the painted lady due to the environmental conditions in Australia. The Australian painted lady's distribution is restricted to Australia. The closely related "V. cardui" is found throughout the rest of the world, so the two species have an allopatric distribution.