Introduction to the red admiral butterfly vanessa atalanta the red admiral butterfly vanessa atalanta is a strong flyer and regular migrant to the british isles due to its strong migratory instinct it s found throughout much of the world including europe asia and north america. The underside is orange blue and white while the hindwings are camouflaged dark brown. The forewing tips are black with white spots.
Key information red admirals have dark black brown wings each with an orange red band. It occurs together with atalanta on madeira and the canary islands and throughout much of the oriental region but is inexplicably absent from europe. The red admiral cannot be confused with any other european butterfly except the similar indian red admiral vanessa indica which has a much wider irregularly shaped red band on the forewings.
This butterfly is primarily a migrant to our shores although sightings of individuals and immature stages in the first few. This butterfly is unmistakable with the velvety black wings intersected by striking red bands. Checklist number 59 023.
Wingspan 64 72 mm 70 78 mm. Red admiral vanessa atalanta. Forewing with red median band hindwing with red marginal.
Upperside is black with white spots near the apex. Red admiral vanessa atalanta linnaeus 1758 family. Pending sightings sightings i verified species i created unidentifiable sightings.
Butterflies and moths of north america. It was first described by carl linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of systema naturae the red admiral is widely distributed across temperate regions of north africa the americas europe. It has a wingspan of about 2 inches 5 cm.
Vanessa atalanta the red admiral or previously the red admirable is a well characterized medium sized butterfly with black wings red bands and white spots.
