Vanessa cardui the HOSTS database. The main defense mechanisms of the painted lady butterflies include flight and camouflage. The caterpillars hide in small silk nests on top of leaves from main predators that include wasps, spiders, ants, and birds. "Vanessa cardui" and other painted lady butterflies are bred in schools for educational purposes and used for butterfly releases at hospices, memorial events and weddings. Vanessa cardui Vanessa cardui is a well-known colorful butterfly, known as the painted lady, or in North America as the cosmopolitan. "V. cardui" is one of the most widespread of all butterflies, found on every continent except Antarctica
Brachycaudus cardui "B. cardui" are usually attended by ants which feed on the honeydew the aphids produce and drive away predators. Researchers found that in a damp meadow which contained ragwort ("Jacobaea vulgaris") but no ants, although winged "B. cardui" arrived at the site, they failed to establish colonies despite an abundance of the host plant. In an experimental habitat, colonies of "B. cardui" on "J. vulgaris" flourished when ants were present but died out if ants were excluded. Infestation with "B. cardui" causes the margins of affected leaves to roll up. This aphid is a vector of plum pox, a serious