Clouded Yellow

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Clouded Yellow

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae
Genus: Colias
Species: C. croceus
Binomial name
Colias croceus
(Geoffroy, 1785)

The Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus, is a small butterfly of the Pieridae family, that is, the Yellows and Whites. In India it is known as the Dark Clouded Yellow to distinguish it from the other species of Clouded Yellows occurring there.

Contents

[edit] Description

At Guna Pani (8000 ft.) in Kullu Distt. of Himachal, India.
At Guna Pani (8000 ft.) in Kullu Distt. of Himachal, India.
Dry form of Dark Clouded Yellow at Himachal, India
Dry form of Dark Clouded Yellow at Himachal, India
Dark Clouded Yellow in Himachal, India
Dark Clouded Yellow in Himachal, India
At Zirmi Thaatch (11,000 ft.) in Kullu Distt. of Himachal, India
At Zirmi Thaatch (11,000 ft.) in Kullu Distt. of Himachal, India

Easily identifiable by the bright yellow colouring, much brighter than that of the lemon yellow male Brimstone. The upperside is golden yellow with a broad black margin on all four wings. The underside has a more greenish tint to it and lacks the black borders. In the center of the underside hindwing is an obvious white spot. Females differ from the males in having yellow spots along the black borders on the upperside. Like all Colias sp. they never open their wings at rest. In a small proportion of females the golden upperside colouration is replaced by a pale cream colour, form helice, which can be confused with the rarer Pale Clouded Yellow Colias hyale and Berger's Clouded Yellow Colias alfacariensis. Helice tends to be more heavily marked in black.

[edit] Distribution

Clouded Yellow's breeding range is North Africa and southern Europe and eastwards through Turkey into the Middle East but it occurs throughout much of Europe as a summer migrant, in good years individuals reaching Scandinavia. In the UK they can be seen on the south coast almost every year in varying numbers where they regularly breed. Occurrence in the rest of the UK varies considerably from year to year, but they are increasingly observed as far north as Dumfries and Galloway.

[edit] Habitat

A truly migratory European butterfly, this species is famous for occasional mass migrations and subsequent breeding, which are often referred to in the United Kingdom as 'Clouded Yellow Years'. Notable clouded yellow years include 1877, 1947, 1983, 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2000.

[edit] Life cycle

In southern Europe and North Africa they breed continuously throughout the year.

[edit] Eggs

Eggs are laid singly on foodplant leaves.

[edit] Caterpillars

The larvae grow fast in warm weather, sometimes pupating within a month.

[edit] Pupa

Pupation lasts for two or three weeks and in good years there can be as many as three broods in a year in th UK with adults still on the wing at the beginning of November.

[edit] Foodplants

Clouded Yellows feed on a variety of leguminous plants. In the UK wild and cultivated clover Trifolium spp. and Lucerne Medicago sativa are favourites and less frequently, Common Bird's-foot-trefoil Lotus corniculatus.

[edit] References

  • Asher, Jim et al, The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland, Oxford University Press.
  • Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
  • Gaonkar, Harish (1996) Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a threatened mountain system. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
  • Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.

[edit] See also