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Vanessa virginiensis
The American Painted Lady (V. virginiensis) is most easily distinguishable by its two large hindwing eyespots on the ventral side. virginiensis also features a white dot within the subapical field of the forewings set in pink on the ventral side, and often as a smaller clean white dot in the orange of the dorsal side too. A less reliable indicator is the row of eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing; virginiensis often has two larger outer spots with blue pupils. The black forewing tips have 4–5 white spots, usually the largest is whitish orange.
Vanessa virginiensis lives in flowery habitats, usually in mountains. The larvae feed on various Asteraceae, especially the cudweeds of genus Gnaphalium. All stages of the life cycle can be found throughout temperate North America as well as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Occasionally individuals can be found as far as south-west Europe.
Saw several while walking through the sweet leaf nature train in WG Jones state forest.
Spotted on Apr 1, 2012
Submitted on Apr 3, 2012
2 Comments
Alright I'll update that, I checked and you are correct haha, there is a small white spot on the orange on the upper wings
This looks very much like an American Lady - Vanessa virginiensis.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/488