American Lady Butterfly

There are 2 ways to identify the American Lady butterfly from the Painted Lady butterfly, and these pictures illustrate 1 of those ways better than the other:

  • First picture - On the top side of the front wing, you're supposed to be able to be able to see a small white non-ringed spot in the orange of the wing of an American Lady that you won't see on a Painted Lady. (Neither the large white patches on the front wing nor the black-ringed white spot on the hind wing represent this field mark.) In my picture, you can just barely see a white spot on the front wing; it's a little to the left of what looks a little like a Batman symbol. Unfortunately the white spot on this butterfly is faint enough that it would be easy to miss it.
  • Second picture - On the underside of the hind wings you can see 2 large, prominent eyespots, patterns on the wings that resemble (but are not) eyes. Two large eyespots clearly identify this as an American Lady; the Painted Lady would have 4 smaller eyespots.

May 18, 2023 at Fairview Farm
Photo 292810240, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

May 18, 2023 at Fairview Farm
Photo 292810263, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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