Completed
Painted Lady
Vanessa cardui
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumArthropoda (Arthropods)
- ClassInsecta (Insects)
- OrderLepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
- FamilyNymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
- GenusVanessa (Ladies and Related Admirals)
- SpeciesVanessa cardui (Painted Lady)
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
225 Verified sightings at Vancouver
3,836 In all 66 parks From 2019 to 2026
June Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted
About the Painted Lady
Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan butterfly. Male and female. Upperside. Ground-colour reddish-ochreous, basal areas olivescent-ochreous-brown; cilia black, alternated with white, Forewing with an outwardly-oblique black irregular-shaped broken band crossing from middle of the cell to the disc above the submedian vein; the apical area from end of cell and the exterior border also black; before the apex is a short white outwardly-oblique streak and a curved row of four round spots, the second and third being small; a marginal pale lunular line with its upper portion most defined and whitish. Hind-wing with a blackish patch from the costal vein across end of cell, a partly confluent recurved discal band, a submarginal row of lunules, and then a marginal row of somewhat scutiform spots; between the discal band and submarginal lunules is a row of five round black spots, which in some examples show a pale and dark outer ring. Underside. Forewing brighter reddish-ochreous, the apical area and outer margin much paler, the apex being olivescent ochreous-brown... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Painted Lady in Vancouver
LIVEiNaturalistGlobal Distribution
Parks Where Found
Cities Where Found
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 2 | Dammam | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 3 | Amman | 🇯🇴 Jordan | |
| 4 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 5 | Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Jerusalem | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 7 | Athens | 🇬🇷 Greece | |
| 8 | Antananarivo | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 9 | Casablanca | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 10 | Ankara | 🇹🇷 Turkey |
Closest Relatives at Vancouver
Before you go
What are the chances of seeing a Painted Lady in Vancouver?
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Painted Lady sighting in Vancouver on a given day, based on 225 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 32nd most-seen of the 482 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
When is the best time to see a Painted Lady in Vancouver?
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Painted Lady in Vancouver on a given day, against under 5% in August to March, the lowest months. That is one of Vancouver's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain against 210 mm in November.
What time of day is best to see a Painted Lady?
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Painted Lady sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Is Vancouver the best place to see a Painted Lady?
85th of 127
Of the 127 cities where we can rate Painted Lady sightings, Vancouver ranks 85th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kuwait City (Kuwait, about 70%), Dammam (Saudi Arabia, about 50%) and Amman (Jordan, about 40%).
Where does the Painted Lady sighting chance come from?
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Painted Lady is recorded against all the insects logged in Vancouver (225 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
