The Painted Lady, also known as the Vanessa cardui butterfly, performs a migratory cycle that can reach 12,000 km in multiple generations — a cycle longer than that of the monarch — making it the longest migration known for any butterfly species and similar to that of many birds.
The Painted Lady, also known as the Vanessa cardui butterfly, performs a migratory cycle that can reach 12,000 km in multiple generations — a cycle longer than that of the monarch — making it the longest migration known for any butterfly species and similar to that of many birds.
These new findings were made by Professor Clément Bataille, a geochemist at the University of Ottawa, along with Gerard Talavera, a colleague from Institut de Biologia Evolutiva. The study was published today in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters.
Read a quick Q&A with Professor Bataille.
Tell us about your findings.
We document for the first time that the Painted Lady flies longer than any other migratory butterfly. She travels from sub-Saharan Africa directly into Europe. Our study showed that the offspring of the butterflies that left Europe in autumn, return to Europe in spring from tropical Africa.
Continue reading at University of Ottawa.
Image via University of Ottawa.
