3
Painted Lady invasion into Tamil Nadu
Pavendhan A
[email protected]
Painted Lady
Scientific Name: Vanessa cardui
Common Name: Painted Lady, Cosmopolitan
Species Authority: Linnaeus, 1758
Family: Nymphalidae
Painted Lady, the colourful butterfly is one of the wide-
spread species across the globe with their presence in most
of the continents, except South America and Antarctica. It is
predominantly resident of temperate areas and is known to
migrate large distance in large numbers.
Painted Lady is seen migrating from North Africa to Europe
and from North America to Central America. The migration
of Painted Lady needs careful study as not much informa-
tion is available of their possible origin and their movement.
They have more than 300 host plants and a reason why they
are so successful across the globe and distinct lack of sub-
species. They are also known to fly into rains. Their abun-
dancy and subsequent movement in large numbers is linked
to heavy rains in their breeding range which helps in their
host plant availability.
Painted Lady is seen in the South India, especially in Tamil
Nadu, in the higher elevations of Western Ghats during
warmer days. They are breeding here as well as migratory
population could be reaching at unknown frequency. As
they generally faster and fly at higher level than other mi-
gratory butterflies like the Tigers and Crows, it is possible
that their migration goes out of human radar easily.
In the current year of observation, within India, in the
month of March and April, they started appearing in North
and North Eastern part of India and in May, many records of
them appeared from Central and North Western part of
India. In the month of June, these appeared al lover South
India, more in numbers in Kerala and Karnataka.
The wait for Painted Lady to enter Tamil Nadu was over on 7th June, when one of the TNBS member, Ramanasaran H noticed
large swarm of Painted Ladies flying over at Othakal mandapam of Coimbatore District. The migratory route indicate that they
may have used the Palakkad Pass. Soon after this, records started appearing many places one by one. Many records of fresh
and battered specimens reported from The Nilgiris. As suspected, we have received records from Thiruppur District, Salem
District, which is on the straight-line path of migration from Coimbatore. We have soon received confirmation from the Sathya-
mangalam Tiger Reserve too. We have had a direct observation too there, after couple of weeks, when a summer study was
undertaken. Many records from Chennai is also received. Records from Pondicherry state is also received. Also from Trichy
District. Interestingly, handful of specimens are reported from Rameswaram, from where Crimson Rose usually jump to Sri
Lanka. All these happened until June 2019! We thank all the observers and contributors!
Text : Pavendhan A
Pictures credit: Pavendhan A
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 3 VEINS 4
13