| Colias philodice | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male specimen | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Genus: | Colias |
| Species: | C. philodice |
| Binomial name | |
| Colias philodice Godart, 1819 | |
 | |
Colias philodice, the common sulphur or clouded sulphur, is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae, subfamily Coliadinae.
This species is a typical member of the genus. Both genders typically have pale yellow wings above with no traces of orange, unlike its close cousin the orange sulphur which may also be yellowish. Males have clean borders, while females have yellow dots within this region. Females sometimes exhibit a white form known as alba.
The underside of the male's wings is yellow while the female's is yellow or greenish white, and both have a doubled hindwing spot trimmed in brownish red. The hindwings show a series of four small red spots along the outer third portion, a trait that distinguishes the other North America species such as Colias interior , with exception of the orange sulphur which also shows them. Its wingspan is 32 to 54 mm. [2]
This species has white form alba which can be very common in some populations, while rare in others. It can be confused with other white forms of Colias particularly that of Colias eurytheme . It can often be distinguished by the border pattern of both wings, though some individuals are impossible to separate without the presence of other "normal" specimens. Though they differ in flight style, the white forms of Colias may be confused with other pierids such as Pieris rapae and Pontia protodice . [3]
White form males are also known, but they are exceedingly rare in this species. [4]
This butterfly may be encountered in fields, lawns, alfalfa or clover fields, meadows, and roadsides. Swarms of these butterflies will congregate at mud puddles. They range over most of North America with the exception of Labrador, Nunavut, and northern Quebec. [2] They migrate every year. [5]
Clouded sulphurs nectar at flowers such as milkweed ( Asclepias species), butterfly bush ( Buddleja species), coneflower ( Dracopis , Echinacea , and Rudbeckia ), alfalfa ( Medicago sativa ), dandelion ( Taraxacum species), clover ( Trifolium species), and tall verbena ( Verbena bonariensis ) and many more.
Ground-plum ( Astragalus crassicarpus ), Platte River milk-vetch ( Astragalus plattensis ), soybean ( Glycine max ), deer vetch ( Lotus species), alfalfa ( Medicago sativa ), white sweet clover ( Melilotus albus ), self-heal ( Prunella vulgaris ), black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia ), white clover ( Trifolium repens ), red clover ( Trifolium pratense ), vetch ( Vicia species).
The pale yellow eggs are laid singly on the host plants. The eggs turn red after a few days, then turn gray just before they hatch. The young larvae will eat one another. The larva is green with a white stripe running along each side of the body. The white stripes may contain bars or lines of pink or orange. The green chrysalis hangs up right by a silken girdle. Just before eclosion, the chrysalis turns yellow with a pink "zipper".
Forage is a plant material eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage.
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.
Phoebis sennae, the cloudless sulphur, is a mid-sized butterfly in the family Pieridae found in the Americas. There are several similar species such as the yellow angled-sulphur, which has angled wings, statira sulphur, and other sulphurs, which are much smaller. The species name comes from the genus Senna to which many of the larval host plants belong.
The common blue butterfly or European common blue is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae and subfamily Polyommatinae. The butterfly is found throughout the Palearctic and has been introduced to North America. Butterflies in the Polyommatinae are collectively called blues, from the coloring of the wings. Common blue males usually have wings that are blue above with a black-brown border and a white fringe. The females are usually brown above with a blue dusting and orange spots.
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.
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 chrysotheme, the lesser clouded yellow, is a small Palearctic butterfly belonging to the family Pieridae.
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.
Zerene cesonia, the southern dogface, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Pieridae, subfamily Coliadinae.
Euptoieta claudia, the variegated fritillary, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Even though the variegated fritillary has some very different characteristics from the Speyeria fritillaries, it is still closely related to them. Some of the differences are: variegated fritillaries have two or three broods per year vs. one per year in Speyeria; they are nomadic vs. sedentary; and they use a wide range of host plants vs. just violets. And because of their use of passionflowers as a host plant, variegated fritillaries also have taxonomic links to the heliconians. Their flight is low and swift, but even when resting or nectaring, this species is extremely difficult to approach, and, because of this, its genus name was taken from the Greek word euptoietos meaning "easily scared".
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 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 hecla, the northern clouded yellow or hecla sulphur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. In Europe, it is found in the northern part of Norway, Sweden and Finland up to heights of 900 m. It is also found in Greenland, Alaska, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Quebec, Labrador, Manitoba, the Chukot region, eastern Chukotka, and the Russian Far East.
Butterflies, or members of the Papilionoidea superfamily, use two ultraviolet signals, UV reflectance or absorbance as a communication system. The ultraviolet region is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum between 10 nm and 400 nm in wavelength. Sensitivity to this region provides butterflies several benefits such as nectar guides for nectar, but it also provides a private communication channel unavailable to predators. With this secure line, butterflies are able to facilitate mating behavior and sex recognition.
Colias alexandra, the Queen Alexandra's sulphur, Alexandra sulphur, or ultraviolet sulfur, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae found in western North America. Its range includes Alaska to the Northwest Territories and south to Arizona and New Mexico.
Trifolium reflexum, the Buffalo Clover, is a species of clover native to the Eastern United States. It is found in areas of natural openings including woodlands, glades, and prairies, often in acidic areas. It is an annual or biennial that produces white to dark pink flowers in the late spring.
