Painted Lady

[Pierre A Plauzoles]

In a previous article, mm_de at postoffice.utas.edu.au (Miguel de Salas) says:

>Here the Painted Lady is the English name of Cynthia kershawi. In Europe
>Cynthia cardui. In America C. virginiensis (sp.?)

Sorry, Miguel.  Not quite.

Robert Michael Pyle, in the National Audubon Society's Field Guide to 
North American Butterflies (1995 edition, published in New York by Knopf 
and distrbuted by Random House), shows the name "Painted Lady" associated 
with Vanessa cardui (see p 625 and illustration 650).  The same book 
lists the *American* Painted Lady with the scientific name Vanessa 
virginiensis.  Cynthia, I believe, is considered a junior synonym to 
Vanessa, although I could be quite wrong on that.
-- 
Pierre Plauzoles   ae779 at lafn.org
Canoga Park, California