Painted Lady

There was an article in today's paper saying that, this year, the number of wild flowers in South Australia is almost unprecedented, at least in recent years. I can certainly vouch for that - the Park is astounding right now.

But another bonus is that there are lots of butterflies. I saw three species today that I've never seen in our garden before, and according to my butterfly bible, although they are all widespread, they are not very commonly seen in suburban gardens.

This is the showiest and largest of all of them - the Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi) (Can't you image that a real Vanessa Kershaw wouldn't necessarily like to be known as a painted lady, unless of course........)

Glamour

The mating behaviour is quite extraordinary: here's some info from wiki

Vanessa kershawi males most often mate with receptive females that fly through their defended territory. Some individuals will defend the same territory multiple afternoons in a row. This system evolved due to a highly dispersed female population. Food and oviposition site are abundant as females feed on a wide range of host plants, therefore females do not have to cluster around hotspots of resources.

Therefore, the best strategy for males is to defend a territory in which females are likely to travel. The males exhibit perching behaviour starting in the mid to late afternoon. They choose sunny spots on hilltops, which females are likely to travel through. Females generally visit these sites with the purpose of mating. If no hilltops are available, the males will wait in channels in the vegetation that would funnel wandering females towards the male.

The perching male sits and waits, scanning the sky for any moving object. Periodically, he will execute a patrol flight in order to get a better picture of the surrounding area. When the male spots a moving flying object, he will fly directly towards it. If it is a male, the resident male will chase him off his territory. If it is a female, the male will chase the female, more slowly and less aggressively than with an intruding male, away from the perch site. The pair will land, followed by copulation, which can last more than an hour.

I'll certainly be trying to get more images of other species. One in particular, the two spotted line blue, is very small indeed (only 17 mm across), and although I got an image today, I was too far away to do it justice.