page_title: New Zealand red admiral
section_title: Life cycle
hierarchical_section_title: New Zealand red admiral / Life cycle
caption_attribution_description: Vanessa gonerilla gonerilla English: NZ Red Admiral showing an example of the extreme wear and tear to the wing tips that occurs over the long life of these butterflies (this specimen was still able to fly, seemingly without difficulty). Wellington, New Zealand Māori: Kahukura
context_page_description: The New Zealand red admiral is a butterfly endemic to New Zealand. Its Māori name is kahukura, which means "red cloak". The red admiral is a member of the family Nymphalidae, the subfamily Nymphalinae and the tribe Nymphalini. There are two subspecies: V. g. gonerilla, which occurs on the mainland of New Zealand, and V. g. ida, which occurs on the Chatham Islands.
context_section_description: The primary host plant for red admiral larvae is the native stinging nettle, ongaonga (Urtica ferox), although larvae can also eat other Urtica species. Throughout their life they use the nettle leaf to protect them during the day, by rolling the edge around them, or (as they get bigger) folding the leaf over into a 'tent'.
  The green, barrel-shaped, ribbed eggs are generally laid singly on a leaf. The larva only eats enough of the eggshell to get out, whereas the closely related yellow admiral larva consumes the whole shell.
  Larvae go through five growth stages (called instars). For about 10 days they have a brown body with small white spots and fine hairs (setae). At about 2.5 mm they moult and during this stage develop a pale stripe along the body just above the legs. The setae start to develop spikes, usually two or more at this stage. At about 5 mm long they moult again and the pale longitudinal lines become more obvious. At about 10 mm they moult once more, and the setae develop more spikes. The last moult is at about 22 mm, from where caterpillars grow to about 36 mm before pupating into a roughly 20–mm pupa.
  
  It is difficult to tell red admiral and yellow admiral caterpillars apart: looking at the 4th and 6th body segments, the yellow admiral larva has a wider light coloured area than the red admiral. The pupa of the red admiral tends to be thinner and longer than that yellow admiral when compared side by side, but otherwise they are very difficult to distinguish.
  Adult red admirals occur most frequently during summer. They over-winter as adults, so can be seen on warm winter days. They are long lived, surviving up to six months in the summer, and perhaps nine months for those which overwinter. The adults feed on nectar from various plant species (native and introduced) and occasionally on seepage of sap. They are strong fliers, but their short flights when feeding and ovipositing are very erratic. Flights over water or mountain ranges are straight and fast, characteristic of a migrating butterfly, but no migration within New Zealand has been reported.
caption: Over-wintered butterfly showing faded colours and extreme wing tip damage.
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