The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow, or orange in coloration, often with black spots. The pigments that give the distinct coloring to these butterflies are derived from waste products in the body and are a characteristic of this family. The family was created by William John Swainson in 1820.
Colias eurytheme, the orange sulphur, also known as the alfalfa butterfly and in its larval stage as the alfalfa caterpillar, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae, where it belongs to the lowland group of "clouded yellows and sulphurs" subfamily Coliadinae. It is found throughout North America from southern Canada to Mexico.
Colias is a genus of butterflies in the family Pieridae. They are often called clouded yellows in the Palearctic and sulphurs in North America. The closest living relative is the genus Zerene, which is sometimes included in Colias.
Colias palaeno, known by the common names moorland clouded yellow, palaeno sulphur, and pale Arctic clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Colias philodice, the common sulphur or clouded sulphur, is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae, subfamily Coliadinae.
Colias aurorina, the Greek clouded butterfly or dawn clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Central Greece, the Near East and the Caucasus area. It is rare in former Yugoslavia.
Colias myrmidone, the Danube clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Colias erate, commonly known as the eastern pale clouded yellow, is a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from south-eastern Europe, through Turkey over central Asia up to Japan and Taiwan. To the south, its range stretches to Somalia and Ethiopia. The species was first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1805.
Colias nastes, the Labrador sulphur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. In Europe, it is found in the north of Norway and Sweden and on rare occasions in northern Finland. It is also found in North America, specifically in Alaska, Canada, and the Rocky Mountains, Washington, Montana and on Greenland. In Asia, it is found in the Altai Mountains, the border regions of Russia, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, the Sayan Mountains, the north of Siberia, and in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
Kricogonia lyside, the lyside sulphur or guayacan sulphur, is a North American, Caribbean, and South American butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Colias tyche, the Booth's sulphur or pale Arctic clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from Baffin Island west along the Hudson Bay and arctic coasts of the Nunavut and Northwest Territories mainland and the southern tier of Arctic Islands to northern Yukon, Alaska, and Eurasia.
Colias christina, the Christina sulphur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae found in western North America. Its range includes the Yukon and Northwest Territories south through British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. This species was named in honor of its first collector Christina Ross.
Colias meadii, the Mead's sulphur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae found in North America. Its range includes the Rocky Mountains in Canada and the United States.
Colias gigantea, the giant sulphur or giant northern sulfur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae found in North America. Its range includes Alaska across Canada to the east coast and Wyoming, Montana, and Oregon.
Colias behrii, the Behr's sulphur or Sierra green sulfur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is endemic to California's Sierra Nevada from Tuolumne County south to Tulare County.
Colias harfordii, the Harford's sulphur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from the southern California coastal ranges and canyons from Kern County south to San Diego County. The habitat consists of open chaparral and woodland clearings.
Colias hyperborea is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in the East Palearctic.
Colias lesbia is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in the Neotropical realm.
