Details
Vanessa cardui
A wide-ranging brush-footed butterfly with orange, black, and white wings. Its migrations can move across continents when weather and host plants align.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
Lives in sunny grassland, fields, roadsides, gardens, and other open places rich in flowers. It occurs broadly outside Antarctica and South America.
The upper wings are orange with black markings and white spots near the forewing tips. The underside is mottled brown and helps it blend into dry ground.
Adults fly by day and often travel with favorable winds. Males perch in sunny openings and pursue passing butterflies.
Adults drink nectar and sometimes honeydew. Caterpillars feed on many host plants, especially thistles and other members of the aster family.
Females lay eggs on host plants. Larvae shelter among lightly webbed leaves before pupating.
Population booms can produce visible migration waves. The species is common enough to appear in city flower beds as well as wild grassland.
