Distinguishing Features
Aside from general differences in distribution, V. annabella can be distinguished from the other two painted ladies of North America as follows:
Most conspicuously, it lacks obvious ventral eyespots on the hindwings; there are 2 large ones in V. virginiensis and 4 small ones in V. cardui. Like the latter, it also lacks a white dot in the pinkish/orange subapical field of the ventral/dorsal forewings. Its upperwing coloration has the purest orange of the three; especially the American Painted Lady is usually quite reddish.
A less reliable indicator is the row of black eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing. These are usually of roughly equal size in V. cardui and lack blue centers, though the summer morph may have a few tiny ones. In the other two, usually 2 eyespots are larger and have more conspicuous blue centers. In V. virginiensis, these normally are the spot at each end of the row, whereas in the present species it is the 2 middle ones.
- See also Painted_Lady
Read more about this topic: West Coast Lady
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