American Lady – Vanessa virginiensis

American Lady   Scientific Name: Vanessa virginiensis Common Name: American Lady, American Painted Lady, Painted Beauty, Hunter’s Butterfly Appearance: American lady, also known as the American painted lady, has beautiful pair of wings. The wings have an orange-brown color with black margins. The front wings are shorter and have characteristic white spots. The undersurface of the forewings has a bright pink spot. The hind wings are more rounded and have two eye spots on the lower side. While the caterpillar of the American lady has variable body colors, mostly with black color and thin yellow bands in each segment. Plus, each segment has two white spots on the sides. Host Plants or Food: American lady caterpillar love to eat the leaves of cudweeds, everlastings, ironweed, burdock and plants in the Aster family. Adult American lady butterfly feeds on the nectar of the flowers. Territory: Throughout North America and Western Europe. Mode of Damage: American lady caterpillars are leaf chewers; they feed on the leaves of the host trees. Habits and Life History: American lady is found in open places such as parks, meadows, dunes, forest edges etc. Female lays eggs singly on the leaves of the host plants. Eggs hatch into caterpillars, which make a nest on the leaves of the host plant by spinning a web and attaching leaves together. Caterpillars remain in their web during the daytime and come out at night to feed. They migrate to the warmer areas during winter and produce 2-3 generations per year.