Colias erate

Eastern pale clouded yellow
C. e. poliographus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pieridae
Genus:	Colias
Species:	C. erate
Binomial name
Colias erate (Esper, 1805)
Synonyms
Papilio erateEsper, 1803 Colias electo ab. kostlaniStrand, 1911 Colias erate marnoana f. solilucisBerger, 1953 Colias erate marnoana f. androidesStorace, 1956 Colias nerieneFischer von Waldheim, 1823 Colias afghanaO. Bang-Haas, 1927 Colias albidaRühl, 1893 Colias androconiataJachontov, 1910 Colias beckeriGerhard, 1882 Colias erate edusoidesVerity, 1908 Colias erate benesignataSheljuzhko, 1913 Colias chryseisRöber, 1907 Colias chrysodonaBoisduval, 1840 Colias chrysohyaleoidesVerity, 1908 Colias chrysopallidaVerity, 1908 Colias chrysothemoidesVerity, 1908 Colias citroneaMezger, 1932 Colias conjunctaVerity, 1908 Colias costaenigrataMezger, 1932 Colias diffusaVerity, 1908 Colias flavomaculataMezger, 1932 Colias garicaVerity, 1911 Colias helichtaLederer, 1853 Colias helichtaTalbot, 1935 Colias erate erate f. androconiataJachontov, 1910 Colias hyaleoidesGrum-Grshimailo, 1890 Colias erate ab. maculigenaAvinoff, 1910 Colias pallidaStaudinger, 1861 Colias parvaRühl, 1893 Colias semifaillaeiPionneau, 1928 Colias unimaculataPionneau, 1928 Colias chrysocomaGrum-Grshimailo, 1893 Colias heraGrum-Grshimailo, 1893 Colias erate giganteaVerity, 1911 Colias erate taniaHemming, 1933 Colias gliciaFruhstorfer, 1910 Colias kachgaricaVerity, 1911 Colias poliographusMotschulsky, 1860 Colias simodade l'Orza, 1869 Colias immamisVerity, 1911 Colias murinaFruhstorfer, 1910 Colias napataFruhstorfer, 1910 Colias pyxagathusFruhstorfer, 1910 Colias hyale zuzukiMatsumura, 1908 Colias tokotanaBryk, 1942

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. ^{[1] [2]}

The butterfly flies in May to September in two generations.

The larvae feed on various Fabaceae species, such as Medicago sativa and Medicago , Trifolium , Onobrychis and Melilotus species.

Subspecies

• C. e. erate (Ukraine, Turkey, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Austria, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kirhizia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan)
• C. e. amdensisVerity, 1911 (China: Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan)
• C. e. marnoanaRogenhofer, 1884 (Sudan, Ethiopia, south-western Arabia)
• C. e. sinensisVerity, 1911 (Mandschuria, North Korea)
• C. e. formosanaShirôzu, 1955 (Taiwan)
• C. e. lativittaMoore, 1882 (Nepal, northern India)
• C. e. poliographusMotschulsky, 1860 (Mongolia, Japan, Amur, Ussuri, Sakhalin, Tian Shan)
• C. e. tomariasBryk, 1942 (Kuriles)
• C. e. naukratisFruhstorfer, 1909 (Altai, southern Siberia, Transbaikalia)
• C. e. nilagiriensis C. & R. Felder, 1859 (southern India)

Description

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

The wingspan is 23–26 mm. the Central Asian butterflies are generally larger than European ones. C. erate has slightly more pointed wingtips than related species. Like most Colias species, Colias erate has yellow ground colouration. Females with whitish tinged wings are sometimes found in Europe and predominate in Central Asia. The butterflies are extremely variable in their colouring and therefore very difficult to distinguish from similar species of the same genus. The wing tops are lemon yellow in color and have a broad black colored outer edge. Around the wing tip, the black also runs towards the leading edge. In the males the black is strong and only with little or no yellow submarginal spots interspersed, in the females it is pale and moreover includes several such spots. Approximately in the middle of the forewing, slightly offset from the front edge, there is a small black spot. The upper sides of the hind wings are also colored lemon yellow, but lightly dusted with dark. A large part of the outer edge is also darkly edged,but not as broadly. In the females, the black is again significantly paler and in places interrupted by yellow. There is an orange spot in the middle of the wing. The undersides of both pairs of wings are more strongly coloured yellow and slightly dusted with dark olive green. The entire edge is finely reddish edged. The black spot on the forewings is also found on the underside along with a few other submarginal spots along the outer edge. Instead of the orange spot, there is a lighter, reddish-edged spot on the hind wings, bordered by another very small spot. The dark row of submarginal spots on the forewings continues on the outer edge of the hindwings, but is only faintly discernible. ^[3]

Frederic Moore (1882) gives a detailed description for C. e. lativitta:

Male. Yellow: fore wing with a broad unspotted blackish band,the inner border of which is angulated inward at the upper median vein; the band very sparsely yellow-speckled on the anterior veins; discocellular spot large, black: hind wing with a broad blackish crenulated band and a large orange-yellow discocellular spot. Underside olivaceous yellow: fore wing with a black discocellular spot and a distinct discal row of spots: hind wing with a moderate-sized dull pearly-white red-bordered discocellular spot.

Female. Yellow, or white; the band on fore wing broader than in male, and with not very prominent upper and lower yellow spots; the discocellular spot distinct: hind wing darker, with broad marginal band traversed inwardly by large ill-defined yellow spots; discocellular spot brighter red.

Expanse 1 5/8 to 2 2/8 inches.

—  Frederic Moore ^[4]

Gallery

• 
  C. e. erate ventral view (male)
• 
  C. e. erate dorsal view (male)
• 
  C. e. erate ventral view (female)
• 
  From Japan
• 
  Feeding on nectar of Rhododendron albrechtii

Cited references

1. Savela, Markku. "Colias erate (Esper, 1805)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
2. Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 23. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN   978-81-929826-4-9.
3. Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Rilley: The Butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa (A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Europe). Paul Parey Publishers, 1971, ISBN 3-490-02418-4 .
4. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : Moore, Frederic (1882). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. p. 255.

External links

• Russian Insects poliographus Motschulsky, 1860
• www.lepiforum.de - taxonomy and photos
• www.schmetterling-raupe.de
• Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa
• Fauna Europaea