---
title: "American Lady"
description: "Vanessa virginiensis — Insetti e ragni. The American painted lady or American lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is a butterfly found throughout North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/american-lady
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# American Lady

> Vanessa virginiensis — Insetti e ragni. The American painted lady or American lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is a butterfly found throughout North America.

- Scientific name: *Vanessa virginiensis*
- Category: `insects` (Insetti e ragni)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 77007
- Wikidata: [Q1590841](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1590841)
- iNaturalist taxon: [48549](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48549)

## Names

- en: American Lady
- de: Amerikanischer Distelfalter
- es: Mariposa Vanesa americana
- fr: Vanesse de Virginie

## Countries with the most observations

US (64144), CA (7940), MX (2265), PT (290), CR (154), ES (107), CO (91), GT (43), HN (38), EC (27), DO (16), NI (12)

## Summary

The American painted lady or American lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is a butterfly found throughout North America.
The larvae feed on various Asteraceae, such as the cudweeds (genus Gnaphalium), the pussytoes (Antennaria), and the everlastings (Anaphalis), which all belong to tribe Gnaphalieae. All stages of the life cycle can be found throughout temperate North America as well as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Occasionally individuals can be found as far as southwest Europe. It has been introduced to Hawaii where it is one of four Vanessa species.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_lady

## Photo

![American Lady](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/american-lady/medium.jpg)

Photo: M Sorensen · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/174760554

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/american-lady?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).