The answer to last week’s mystery is painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, pictured in photo below.
The painted lady is often confused with the monarch, because their color scheme is similar, but the painted lady is smaller, with a wingspan of 2-3 inches. It also lacks the vein pattern that monarchs are known for. Painted ladies also have a mottled black and brown underside with four eyespots.
The painted lady boasts the world’s farthest known butterfly migratory route, undertaking a phenomenal 9,000-mile round trip from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle. Some of the reasons for its widespread distribution include the wide variety of plants it feeds and lays eggs on, its ability to migrate to avoid winter, and its ability to continuously reproduce.
The painted lady makes their return migration journey at high altitude, out of view of butterfly observers on the ground. Radar records reveal that painted ladies fly at an
average altitude of over 500 meters on their southbound trip and can clock up
speeds of 30 mph allowing it to travel up to 100 miles per day during its migration
by selecting favorable conditions
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.