[I found this nearly-finished post skulking about in my list yesterday morning; now I don't recall when the pictures were taken, but I suspect it was fall of last year, down near the American River.]
Running across these pictures and mentally labeling them "Painted Ladies," I suddenly realized I didn't know what distinguishes a Painted Lady from similar species (though the West Coast Lady, at least, has prominent blue spots). Google had an easy answer, though. Turns out that bar halfway through the black wingtip is white in Painted Ladies, orange in other species.
The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources in Honolulu has a straightforward page that contrasts four Vanessa species, though of these, one is exclusively Hawaiian. Iowa State goes into a bit more detail.
Also new to me: the wide-ranging Painted Lady is also sometimes called a Cosmopolitan. Such an intrepid traveler it is, that it has the distinction of being the only butterfly ever recorded in Iceland.
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