---
title: "Painted Lady"
description: "Vanessa cardui — Insects & spiders. Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/painted-lady
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Painted Lady

> Vanessa cardui — Insects & spiders. Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species.

- Scientific name: *Vanessa cardui*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Fields & meadows), `urban` (Towns & gardens)
- iNaturalist observations: 208621
- Wikidata: [Q158603](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q158603)
- iNaturalist taxon: [48548](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48548)

## Names

- en: Painted Lady
- de: Distelfalter
- es: Mariposa Vanesa pintada
- fr: Vanesse du chardon
- nl: Distelvlinder
- pl: Rusałka osetnik

## Summary

Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan butterfly.

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

## Photo

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

Photo: Omar Haroon · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/45675408

## Machine access

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