Painted Lady Butterfly Migration Facts

Location/Distance

• The painted lady butterfly is distributed all around the world, except Antarctica and South America.

• They migrate hundred of miles.

• They migrate about 12 miles per day for about 7.75 hours per day.

• They have a straight line trajectory.
  
  

Mating

• Their purpose in life is to mate and lay eggs.

• Male butterflies perches on shrub, or even the ground, during the afternoon hours and wait for the female to approach.

• Males and females engage in courtship behavior by flying in a fast figure-eight pattern.
  
  

Feeding

• They are generalist feeders. As larva they eat:

• Malvaceae

• Compositae

• Leguminosae

• Adults eat nectar blooms
  
  

Migration Cues

• The sun is a cue for migration as well as the wind

• They go on the northerly spring migration toward optimal oviposition sites when they are ready to breed.

• They start the southerly migration in autumn toward origin. (Note this finding is not absolute)
  
  

Navigational Mechanisms

• The use the sun as a compass.

• They have a straight-line trajectory.