This is an image of the Painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui feeding on lavender. These butterflies have one of the longest known migrations.

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This is an image of the Painted lady butterfly, Vanessa (Cynthia) cardui or simply Vanessa cardui, feeding (nectaring) on lavender. In America it is known as the Cosmopolitan Butterfly and has one of the best global distributions of all the butterflies. In the autumn the offspring migrate back and in the case of the arctic explorers this can be a round trip of up to about 9 000 miles, taking in several generations.

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Size: 5634px × 2817px
Location: Formby, Merseyside, UK
Photo credit: © Rod Hill / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: angiosperm, angiospermae, animalia, animals, anthophyta, arthropod, arthropoda, asteridae, botany, brushfoots, butterfly, cardui, creatures, cynthia, dicots, dicotyledons, entomology, fauna, flora, flower, flowering, glossata, hexapod, hexapoda, insecta, insects, invertebrate, lady, lamiaceae, lamiales, lavender, lepidoptera, magnolicae, magnoliohyta, magnoliopsida, mesofauna, nature, nymphalidae, nymphalinae, nympnalani, painted, perennial, plants, spermatophyta, vanessa, vegetation, wildlife, zoology