Painted Ladies

[John.Calhoun at SempermedUSA.com]

I thought I would add a few comments about observations of V. cardui here in Florida.  I returned from a trip to Austria to find two V. cardui hanging around some yellow lantanas in my yard.  This was truly startling as I had seen the species in Europe, only to come home and see them in my front yard where I had never seen them before!  They were there all that day and were still there the next morning.  The following day, one of them was seen sunning itself near the lantanas.  It flew up over the house and that was the last I've seen of them (two days ago). In the twelve years I've lived in Florida, I have never seen V. cardui in my yard.  The general rule in Florida is that you rarely see more than one at a time, and you're lucky to see one at all.  The species is also being observed in various other areas of the state, primarily the northern and central counties.  Until this year, I estimate that I've only seen 5 or 6 V. cardui during the nearly thirty years I've studied butterflies in Florida.

John Calhoun


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