Scientific Name: Vanessa cardui
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Diet: Larvae eat thistles.
Vegetation Association: Host plants are in the sunflower family.  Found in open fields with thistles.
Predators:
Life Stages: Complete metamorphosis; egg, larva, pupa, adult. 
Notes: Migratory, normal habitats include desert.  Young caterpillars feed and shed their skin, or molt.  The final molt produces the pupa, and then the butterfly rests.  Once free of the chrysalis, fluid from its body is pumped into its wings, the wings then are allowed to dry before it flies away to look for food and a mate.  This is a brushfooted butterfly.

Photo: Taken at Brown's Ranch on April 18, 2003. For more photos, click on the camera icon.

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