Subject: Cynthia cardui??

From: Alvaro Jaramillo <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 1995 18:02:31 -0700

>Nymphalis antiopa, the Camberwell Beauty/Mourning Cloak continues to be
>reported from Britain.  The first record I have is 17 July from Sandwich,
>Kent and several others have been seen in that area.  Other migrants from
>Europe include 120 Painted Ladies, Cynthia cardui, counted on the beach
>between Sandwich and Deal on 3 August, Clouded Yellows, Colias croceus, in
>late July/early August and the Continental Swallowtail, Papilio machaon
>gorganus, on 2 August in the same area.

  I am not up on my lepidopteran taxonomy, but it struck me as odd that the
Painted Lady was referred to as being in the genus _Cynthia_. All of my
North American books list it as in the genus _Vanessa_ like the Red Admiral.
Has the genus been split, or is this where European and North American
systematists disagree??

BTW, Vanessa (Cynthia) carye, West Coast Lady seems to have taken over and
become more common than V. (C.) cardui here at the coast in the San
Francisco area.

Alvaro Jaramillo
Half Moon Bay, CA

[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Angela14)
Date: 9 Aug 1995 08:40:54 -0400

I've been wondering the same thing.  I was debating whether it was
important enough to post that question or not.  I think some people
consider Cynthia to be a subgenus set aside for Painted Ladies, but others
consider Cynthia and Vanessa to be separate ones.   I read this in the
Audubon Society, though, and sometimes their information is screwy.

-- Angela