The Common or Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) is a North American butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 in the family Pieridae

Pieridae

The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...

, subfamily Coliadinae

Coliadinae

Coliadinae, the sulfurs, sulphurs, or yellows, are a subfamily of butterflies with about 300 described species.There are 36 species in North America, where they range from Mexico to northern Canada...

.

Description

The upper side of the male's wings is yellow with black borders. The upper side of the female's wings is either yellow or greenish-white with yellow- or white-spotted black borders. The underside of the male's wings is yellow while the female's is yellow or greenish-white, and both have a double hind wing spot trimmed in brownish-red. Its wingspan 32 to 54 mm.

White form
This species has a white form which can be confused with a Pieris rapae.

Habitat

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.

Nectar Plants

Clouded Sulphurs nectar at flowers such as Milkweed (Asclepias

Asclepias

Asclepias L. , the milkweeds, is a genus of herbaceous perennial, dicotyledonous plants that contains over 140 known species...

sp.), Butterfly Bush (Buddleja

Buddleja

Buddleja, often misspelled Buddleia but commonly known as the Butterfly Bush, is a genus of flowering plants. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus honours the Reverend Adam Buddle , a botanist and rector in Essex, England, but who could never have seen a plant of the genus.-Classification:The...

sp.), Coneflower (Dracopis

Dracopis

Dracopis is a monotypic genus with Dracopis amplexicaulis the sole species. It is native to North America....

, Echinacea

Echinacea

Echinacea is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae. The nine species it contains are commonly called purple coneflowers. They are endemic to eastern and central North America, where they are found growing in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas. They have...

, and Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia is a plant genus of 23 species in the family Asteraceae. The species are commonly called coneflowers and black-eyed-susans; all are native to North America and many species are cultivated in gardens for their showy yellow or gold flower heads.The species are herbaceous, mostly perennial...

), Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), Dandelion (Taraxacum

Taraxacum

Taraxacum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. They are native to Eurasia and North America, and two species, T. officinale and T. erythrospermum, are found as weeds worldwide. Both species are edible in their entirety...

sp.), Clover (Trifolium sp.), and Tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis

Verbena bonariensis

Verbena bonariensis is a member of the verbena family cultivated as a garden annual or perennial...

) and many more.

Host Plants

Ground-Plum (Astragalus crassicarpus), Platte River Milk-Vetch (Astragalus plattensis), Soy-Bean (Glycine max), Deer-Vetch (Lotus

Lotus (genus)

Lotus is a genus that includes bird's-foot trefoils and deervetches and contains many dozens of species distributed world-wide. Depending on the taxonomic authority, roughly between 70 and 150 are accepted. Lotus is a genus of legume and its members are adapted to a wide range of habitats, from...

spp.), Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), White Sweet-Clover (Melilotus albus

Melilotus albus

Melilotus albus , is a legume sometimes grown for forage. White sweet clover is a major source of nectar for an apiary...

), Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), White Clover (Trifolium repens), Red Clover (Trifolium pratense), Vetch (Vicia

Vicia

Vicia is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants commonly known as vetches. It is in the legume family . Member species are native to Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. Some other genera of their subfamily Faboideae also have names containing "vetch", for example the...

spp.)

Life cycle

The pale yellow eggs are laid singly on the host plant

Host (biology)

In biology, a host is an organism that harbors a parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter. In botany, a host plant is one that supplies food resources and substrate for certain insects or other fauna...

s. The eggs turn red after a few days, then turn gray just before they hatch. The young larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e 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 silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

en girdle

Girdle

A girdle is a garment that encircles the lower torso, perhaps extending below the hips, and worn often for support. The word girdle originally meant a belt. In modern English, the term girdle is most commonly used for a form of women's foundation wear that replaced the corset in popularity...

. Just before eclosion, the chrysalis turns yellow with a pink "zipper".

External links

• Photos of adults and larva
• Information and photos of Clouded Sulphur
• Clouded Sulphur, Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility
• Clouded Sulphur, Red Planet Inc.
• Clouded Sulphur, Fairfax County Public Schools
• Clouded Sulphur, Nearctic.com