Eurema brigitta

"Small grass yellow" redirects here. For the other butterfly with this common name, see Eurema smilax.

Small grass yellow
Imago (above) and final instars (below)
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pieridae
Genus:	Eurema
Species:	E. brigitta
Binomial name
Eurema brigitta (Cramer, 1780)
Synonyms
Papilio brigittaStoll, [1780] Maiva sulphureaGrose-Smith & Kirby, 1893 Xanthidia pulchellaBoisduval, 1833 Terias dronaHorsfield, [1829] Terias sennaC. & R. Felder, [1865] Terias fruhstorferiMoore, 1906 Terias hainanaMoore, 1878 Terias rubellaWallace, 1867 [2] Papilio libytheaFabricius, 1798 [3] Terias australisWallace, 1867

Upper side of male imago (above), showing the dark borders, and the pupa (below)

Eurema brigitta, the small grass yellow ^{[4] [5]} or broad-bordered grass yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites. It is found in India, other parts of Asia, Australia and Africa. ^{[4] [5] [3] [2]}

Description

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

Wet-season form: Male. Upper-side somewhat paler yellow. Fore-wing with the outer marginal black band; the apical edge of costa and the cilia rosy-red. Hind-wing with the black outer band somewhat narrower, macular, the decreasing portions each with a more prolonged inner-tooth, and the yellow ground-colour between each extending to the outer edge. Underside pale yellow, the fore-wing also having a very slightly defined sub-apical inwardly-oblique squamous streak. Fore-wing with the entire costal edge and outer marginal cilia, and also the outer marginal cilia of the hind-wing, rosy-red. Female. Upper-side. Apical edge between the subcostals of fore-wing, and cilia of both wings paler rosy-red. Underside with the markings on hind-wing slightly visible. Fore-wing above with the black outer band broken beneath the lower median veinlet. Hind-wing with the outer band similar to male, its portions slightly broader. Underside similar to male, the markings being slightly more defined.

Intermediate form: Male. Upper-side. Fore-wing with the outer band slightly narrower than in wet form; cilia paler red. Hind-wing with the marginal macular band narrower, and composed of smaller portions. Underside similar to wet form. Female. Upperside. Fore-wing with the outer band less broken at its posterior end than in wet form. Hind-wing with the marginal macular band less distinct and narrower. Underside similar to the male.

Dry-season form: Both sexes much smaller than in intermediate form. Cilia paler. Male. Fore-wing above with the inner-edge of the marginal band less sinuated than in intermediate form, its posterior end indistinctly broken. Hind-wing with the lower portions of the macular band somewhat larger and less dentate. Underside. Both wings with less defined markings than in intermediate form. Female. Upper-side. Fore-wing with the band slightly broken at posterior end. Hind-wing with the lower portions of band somewhat wider. Underside with the markings indistinct.

—  Charles Swinhoe, Lepidoptera Indica . Vol. VII ^[2]

The wingspan is 30–35 mm. Adults are on the wing year-round. ^[6]

Food plants

The larvae feed on Hypericum aethiopicum and Chamaecrista mimosoides . ^[6]

Subspecies

• E. b. brigitta – tropical Africa
• E. b. pulchella(Boisduval, 1833) – Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoro Islands, Aldabra Islands
• E. b. drona(Horsfield, [1829]) – Sumatra, Java to Lombok
• E. b. senna(C.&R.Felder, [1865]) – Peninsular Malaya, Singapore, Indochina
• E. b. fruhstorferi(Moore, 1906) – eastern Indo-China
• E. b. inaEliot, 1956 – southern Sulawesi
• E. b. hainana(Moore, 1878) – Hainan
• E. b. rubella(Wallace, 1867) – Sri Lanka, India, Burma to southern China, Nicobars
• E. b. formosanaMatsumura, 1919 – Taiwan
• E. b. yunnana(Mell)
• E. b. australis(Wallace, 1867) – Australia, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea

Gallery

• 
  E. b. brigitta, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
• 
  E. b. pulchella, Madagascar
• 
  E. b. rubella, Bangalore, India

See also

• List of butterflies of India
• List of butterflies of India (Pieridae)

References

1. Westrip, J.R.S. (2021). "Eurema brigitta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021 e.T159946A165246239. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T159946A165246239.en . Retrieved 10 March 2022.
2. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : Swinhoe, Charles (1905–1910). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VII. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 38–40.
3. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : Bingham, C.T. (1907). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. II (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd. pp. 247–248.
4. 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. 69. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN   978-81-929826-4-9.
5. Savela, Markku. "Eurema brigitta (Stoll, [1780])". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
6. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN   978-1-86872-724-7.

• Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society.
• Gaonkar, Harish (1996). Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System. Bangalore, India: Centre for Ecological Sciences.
• Gay, Thomas; Kehimkar, Isaac David; Punetha, Jagdish Chandra (1992). Common Butterflies of India. Nature Guides. Bombay, India: World Wide Fund for Nature-India by Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-563164-7.
• Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. ISBN   978-81-7371-354-5.
• Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. ISBN   978-81-7019-232-9.