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Vanessa cardui / Painted Lady
Shtegëtarja
Nymphalidae - Nymphalinae
Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus, 1758). TL: Europe, Africa.
 
 
 
 
1a. Vanessa cardui, distribution map.  Historical data ;  Additional data from the 2018 update ;  New observations since the 2018 update.
1b. Vanessa cardui frontal. Belgium (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1c. Vanessa cardui upperside. Konispol, Albania (© Fuat Tartari)
1d. Vanessa cardui underside. Greece (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1e. Vanessa cardui egg, focus stack. Belgium (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1f. Vanessa cardui underside. Belgium (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1g. Vanessa cardui caterpillar in silk nest. Albania (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1h. Vanessa cardui caterpillar. Albania (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
Description
♂♂
Large butterfly. Fw: 27-30 mm.
Ups: rosy buff (if fresh) to pale orange (old specimens and after migration)
Upf: small white apical spots.
Uph: small black postdiscal spots in s2 to s6.
Unh: variable gc, variable but conspicuous ocelli in postdiscal band.
♀♀
Similar.
Similar species
None.
Life cycle
Adults: two or three continuous generations from March to early December.
Egg: 3-7 days.
Caterpillar: overwintering at low level in the Mediterranean region as caterpillar, in summer 20-34 days.
Pupa: 9-18 days.
Habitat
Vanessa cardui inhabits a large variety of flowering grasslands, parks, gardens from lowland up to 2600 m a.s.l.
Spatial requirement is high, population density often high, migrating.
Foodplants
Caterpillars feed mainly on Carduus sp., Cirsium sp., Echium sp, also mentioned are Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae and Vitaceae
Butterflies feed on all kind of flowers.
Distribution
Albania: widespread.
Balkan: AL - BG - BIH - GR - HR - NMK - MNE - RKS - RO - SLO - SRB
Europe: IB - IT - ALP - BAL - NWE - UK - SCA - EEU
Asia Minor, Near East, Transcaucasia, Caucasus and further east.
Conservation status
Vanessa cardui is not endangered.
Albanian Red List: NE.
IUCN Red List, category at the Mediterranean level: LC.
Useful links
Bink 2015
Pyrgus.de
Lepiforum
Euroleps
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