Painted Lady

The most common species of butterfly in the world, the painted lady sort of looks like a smaller monarch wannabe. I know that there are some butterflies (like the Viceroy) that mimic monarch coloring to fool predators into thinking they're poisonous, but I don't know if the painted lady is one of those tricksters. 

Both the adult and the caterpillar are fond of familiar flowers and weeds. Thistles, daisies, black-eyed Susans and asters are some plants they favor. By the way, the caterpillar of this species is a rather nondescript brownish-black color with a few stripes and tufts on it. Nothing as showy as the monarch or unattractive as the red-spotted purple caterpillars.  

While this might be the world's most common butterfly, I still think it's uncommonly pretty.