Vanessa kershawi

Vanessa kershawi (McCoy, 1868)
William Kershaw's Painted Lady
(erroneously: Cynthia kershawii)
NYMPHALINAE, NYMPHALIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Vanessa kershawi
(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley, Melbourne, Victoria)

This species was named in honour of William Kershaw, a taxidermist at the National Museum (now Museum Victoria).

The Caterpillar is brown with two pale yellow lines along each side and is covered in rows of branched spines.

(Photo: courtesy of Laura Levens, Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria)

The head may be brown or black. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 centimetres.

(Photo: courtesy of Laura Levens, Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria)

The caterpillar hides by day in a curled leaf or at the foot of the foodplant, feeding at night. It feeds on a number of herbaceus plants from the Daisy family (ASTERACEAE) including the Australian natives :

Winged Everlasting ( Ammobium alatum ),

Strawflower ( Bracteantha bracteata ),

Yellow Buttons ( Chrysocephalum apiculatum ),

Rice Flower ( Chrysocephalum semipapposum ),

Everlastings ( Helichrysum species), and

Western Sunray ( Rhodanthe chlorocephalum ),

and the introduced :

Capeweed ( Arctotheca calendula ),

Scotch Thistle ( Onopordum acanthium ), and

and has also been found on

Lavender ( Lavendula angustifolia, LAMIACEAE ).

(Photo: courtesy of Laura Levens,
Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria)

(Photo: courtesy of Reg Watson,
Portarlington, Victoria)

The pupae vary from brown to gold, with darker metallic silver or gold markings, including pairs of metallic-looking dots on the wings. The pupa is often suspended vertically from a cremaster on the underside of foodplant leaf. Its length is about 1 cm. The pupal duration is about two weeks in summer in Melbourne.

(Photo: courtesy of Ted Cadwallader)

The adult butterflies have a wing span around 5 cms. The adult males and females are similar in appearance. The forewing above is black with orange-red markings, and has four white dots near the apex, and a white bar running inward from the costa. The hindwing above is orange with three or four blue-centred eyespots arranged along a subterminal line.

(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

Beneath, the forewing is the same as above, except that it is paler in colour. The underside of each hindwing is brown and cream, with a row of faint subterminal eyespots. The wingspan is about 5 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Bruce Anstee, Riverstone, New South Wales)

Note that the adults have only four legs, and have a long haustellum with which they can suck nectar from flowers.

(Photo: courtesy of Ken Walker, Melbourne, Victoria)

The female lays her eggs singly on a leaf of a food plant. She settles on a leaf, positions herself carefully, then deposits the egg in the centre of the leaf. It is easy to find the eggs once this behaviour is understood. The eggs are barrel shaped with prominent ribs, and have a diameter of about 0.5 mm. The main egg is green, and the ribs white. The eggs we have taken have hatched in about three days.

(Photo: courtesy of Fred Swindley, Sydney, New South Wales)

The whole life cycle is fifty three days in summer in Melbourne. The butterfly is notable for its migrations during late winter and early spring from northern regions on the east coast of Australia towards the south-west, particularly in the Sydney area.

mating pair
(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley, Melbourne, Victoria)

The species occurs across the west Indian Ocean to the east Pacific Ocean, including:

Indonesia,

New Zealand,

and including Australia, in

Australian Capital Territory,

Victoria,

Tasmania, and

South Australia.