Australian Painted Lady butterfly

Discuss natural history subjects not strictly related to birds. Reports of interesting mammal, reptile, and invertebrate sightings are welcome.
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sav
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Australian Painted Lady butterfly

Postby sav » Fri Oct 23, 2015 1:47 pm

Hi all,

I saw an Australian Painted Lady butterfly at Te Mata Peak in Hawkes Bay yesterday. It was quite tatty and dull, so presumably old-ish.

Does anyone know if they over-winter here? Wikipedia says not.............

cheers
Sav Saville
Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ
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Olwen
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Re: Australian Painted Lady butterfly

Postby Olwen » Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:20 pm

The book Butterflies of the South Pacific by Brian and Hamish Patrick says that they breed here but cannot survive the New Zealand winter. They say large numbers were found in NZ in 1968-69, 1980-81 and 1998-99 usually appearing in October. Maybe this will be the start of another influx with all the westerly weather.
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David Riddell
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Re: Australian Painted Lady butterfly

Postby David Riddell » Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:21 am

While on the way to see the gull-billed tern and other birds at Big Sand Island yesterday there was an Australian painted lady along the access track that runs northwards a short distance from the shore. It mostly kept its wings closed when at rest on account of the strong wind, but I did manage to get the photo below.
Painted lady Tapora 260123.jpg
Painted lady Tapora 260123.jpg (1.15 MiB) Viewed 2773 times

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