Australian Painted Lady: Vanessa (Cynthia) kershawi

Location: Leschenault, Western Australia

Season: late autumn

Order: Lepidoptera 

Family: Nymphalidae 

Tribe: Nymphalini 

Genus: Vanessa 

Subgenus: Cynthia 

Vanessa (Cynthia) kershawi

Genus Vanessa, which has 20 species worldwide, three of which occur in Australia, the Australian Painted Lady V. kershawi, the Painted Lady V. cardui and the Yellow Admiral. The Australian Painted Lady and the Painted Lady are very similar but different classified as two separate species. There are 10 differences in the wing pattern alone. Among the distinguishing features of Australian Painted Lady, here are a few (as seen in above picture)
-has a darker overall colour with orange-brown markings
-there are 3 ocelli (eye spots) in the hind wing with blue pupil
-black apex of the hind wing merges with the 4th eye spot
-the black apex of the forewing has 4 white spots
-white bar running down the costa
-black antenna with white tips

V. kershawi prefers an arid environment which is stressful for the butterfly. This stress induces a colour modification which makes V. kershawi phenotypically different from V. cardui making it a separate species. When pupae of V.cardui were subjected to similar stresses, the emerging adults showed darker colour and blue eye spots. This phenotypical plasticity is said to be responsible for the evolution of the species V. kershawi.

References:
lepidoptera
wikipedia
pubmed
learnaboutbutterflies