The World of Minibeasts

Aristocrats -  This Way or That Way: The Painted Lady

Butterflies of the same species may differ: the upperside of their wings from the belowside, male and female, freshly hatched specimen from aged ones. This is also true for other families.

At times it is diffcult to allocate all the different forms to the species that they belong to. Butterflies may look this way or that way - this story is about different ways of looking in the Aristocrats family.

The patchy pattern in brownish-gray, black and white on the belowside visually dissolves the contours of the butterfly and merges it with the colours of the background. By shifting her hind-wing a little bit forward the Painted Lady can make even the smallest remainder of her conspicuous colours disappear. 

But when unfolding her wings, she shows her aristocratic robe and reveals colours of rose, black and white. 

Photographs by José Verkest Tex by Maria Pfeifer