The Difference Between Monarchs & Painted Lady Butterflies

Are you able to point out a painted lady or monarch butterfly if you see one in your back yard?

Painted lady butterflies and monarchs are currently filling the skies! But how can you tell them apart?

•Painted ladies, like their name suggests, look like they have watercolor paint on their wings.
•The painted lady has no black veins, like those of the monarch, but rather brown spots.
•Wingspan: Painted Ladies- up to 6 cm | Monarchs- up to 10 cm
•Monarch Butterflies are toxic, painted lady butterflies are not.

The Painted Lady or Cosmopolitan:

(V. cardui) is superficially similar to V. tameamea, but has more white spots and bands in the black area of the forewing, and also has conspicuous eyespots on the underside of the hindwing, with blue centers.

Each year, it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonizing mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland. In some years it is an abundant butterfly, frequenting gardens and other flowery places in late summer.