Description
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.
Colias croceus, clouded yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, the yellows and whites.
Colias hyale, the pale clouded yellow, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae, which is found in most of Europe and large parts of the Palearctic. It is a rare migrant to the British Isles and Scandinavia. The adult wingspan is 52–62 millimetres (2.0–2.4 in).
Colias alfacariensis, Berger's clouded yellow, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae. It was separated from the pale clouded yellow, C. hyale, in 1905. Berger's clouded yellow is a Palearctic species (South and Central Europe, South Russia, Russian Far East, Siberia Central Asia and temperate China also Asia Minor, Caucasus and Transcaucasia.
Eurema blanda, the three-spot grass yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae which is found in Sri Lanka, India and southeast Asia.
Appias lalage, the spot puffin, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites, which is found in India, Indochina and Hainan.
Appias indra, the plain puffin, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites, which is found in south and southeast Asia.
Catopsilia pomona, the common emigrant or lemon emigrant, is a medium-sized pierid butterfly found in Asia, Cambodia and parts of Australia. The species gets its name from its habit of migration. Some early authors considered them as two distinct species Catopsilia crocale and Catopsilia pomona.
The Nilgiri clouded yellow, Colias nilagiriensis, sometimes considered a subspecies of Colias erate, is a small butterfly native to Shola forests of the Western Ghats. It belongs to the family Pieridae.
Colias chrysotheme, the lesser clouded yellow, is a small Palearctic butterfly belonging to the family Pieridae.
Kaniska canace, the blue admiral, is a nymphalid butterfly, the only species of the genus Kaniska. It is found in south and southeast Asia.
Junonia almana, the peacock pansy, is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in Cambodia and South Asia. It exists in two distinct adult forms, which differ chiefly in the patterns on the underside of the wings; the dry-season form has few markings, while the wet-season form has additional eyespots and lines. It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List.
Acraea issoria, the yellow coster, is a small, leathery-winged butterfly. This species of the subgenus (Actinote) and the tawny coster with its sister species and of the nominotypical subgenus, are the only Asiatic representatives of the predominantly African subfamily Acraeinae.
Zizeeria karsandra, the dark grass blue, is a small butterfly first described by Frederic Moore in 1865. It is found from the southern Mediterranean, in a broad band to India, Sri Lanka, the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Yunnan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman, New Guinea and northern and eastern Australia. It belongs to the lycaenids or blues family, and the tribe Polyommatini.
Colias phicomone, the mountain clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Carpathian Mountains and the Alps. It flies at altitudes of 900 to 2800 meters.
Colias myrmidone, the Danube clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Papilio androgeus, the Androgeus swallowtail, queen page, or queen swallowtail, is a Neotropical butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found from Mexico to Argentina with a small population in southern Florida.
Colias cocandica is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Central Asia.
Colias fieldii, the dark clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in southern Iran, India, southern China, Indochina, and Ussuri.
Colias lesbia is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in the Neotropical realm.
Charaxes psaphon, plain tawny rajah, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It was described by John Obadiah Westwood in 1847. It is found in the Indomalayan realm.
