General overview on butterflies
A butterfly (or “rhopalocera“) is an insect. It’s part of the insecta classis, which in turn is part of the lepidoptera order, in which you have the following 6 main families of butterflies:
- Hesperiidae
- Papilionidae
- Pieridae
- Lycaenidae
- Riodinidae
- Nymphalidae
In France, we have 266 species of butterflies (rhopalocera). Provence has 223 species of butterflies, which represents around 84% of them.
The Painted Lady: illustrated description
In latin, the Painted Lady is name “Vanessa cardui” :
- “vanessa” stems from Venus, Roman goddess of love.
- “cardui” can be translated as “thistle”.
The painted lady is a migratory butterfly.
The Painted Lady: scientific classification
- Domain: biota
- Kingdom: animalia
- Phylum : arthropoda
- Class: insecta
- Order: lepidoptera
- Family: nymphalidae
- Genus: Vanessa
- Species: Vanessa cardui