Cynthia (butterfly)

Cynthia
Vanessa cardui
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Vanessa
Subgenus:	Cynthia Fabricius, 1807

Cynthia is a group of colourful butterfly species that used to be considered a subgenus of the genus Vanessa, in the family Nymphalidae. Before that, it was first described as a genus. Nowadays, this group is not considered a valid taxon anymore, because it is paraphyletic.^[1] The name Cynthia Fabricius, 1807 is now a junior subjective synonym of Vanessa Fabricius, 1807.^[2]

In English, the species of the Cynthia group are sometimes collectively referred to as the painted ladies, although the name "painted lady" usually specifically refers to the near-cosmopolitan species Vanessa cardui.

The Cynthia group includes at least five species (to which some authors add other South American Vanessa species):

• the Painted lady (Vanessa cardui), which is almost global in its distribution,
• the Australian painted lady (Vanessa kershawi), mostly present in Australia,
• the American (painted) lady (Vanessa virginiensis), mostly in North America,
• the West Coast lady (Vanessa annabella) in Western North America,
• the Western painted lady (Vanessa carye) in South America.