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Project Noah Nature School
Vanessa gonerilla
This is a picture I took a couple of years ago during a trip to Matiu/Somes Island . The butterfly intrigued me because the only other butterflies I've seen in the city before have been Monarch butterflies and I could tell by the blue eye spots on this butterfly's wings that it wasn't one. The butterfly has since been identified by a helpful commenter as a New Zealand Red Admiral.
Red Admirals are fairly common throughout New Zealand wherever their food plants are found.
The Red Admirals main food plants include: Perennial Nettle (Urtica dioica) Onga Onga (Urtica ferox) Although they will eat any kind of nettle, adults also eat nectar as shown in the photo above.
Spotted on Mar 18, 2011
Submitted on Mar 24, 2013
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