Wing span: 4.5-5.5 cm.

Flight time: Multiple overlapping generations, with broods emerging from late-March through late-September. Occasionally adults have also been observed on warm, late-November days.

Status: Breeding resident.

Distinguishing features: This distinctive species has a black upper forewing with a bright, diagonal red band and a red marginal band on the hind wing. The lower hindwing is mottled with a complex jumble of light tan to black colored areas.

Distribution and habitat: It is abundant statewide where it occurs in forests.

Natural History: Larvae consume nettles (Utrica dioica) and wood nettles (Laportea canadensis). While some guides (e.g. Opler & Malikul 1992) contend that this species does not overwinter in Iowa, the data do not support this. The first individuals to be seen in early spring Iowa woodlands are fresh, and clearly just emerged. Also, the spring flight is the largest during the year. However, given that five to ten percent of the individuals observed during the 1992 mass Vanessa migration were of this species, it seems clear that southern migrants are continually reinforcing local, resident populations. During the day adults exhibit a certain wariness, which makes them difficult to net. At dusk, however, individuals gather in openings, and only make short, circular flights around a given perch, making them easier to net.