Colias poliographus is a yellow sulphur butterfly of East Asia that flies low over meadows and farm fields from spring to fall. It does not live in the United States, though other members of its genus, such as the Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice), are common there.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Wingspan is about 2 in (5 cm). The forewings have a wide black outer border, and the hindwing has an orange spot in the center. Males are always yellow; females come in both yellow and whitish forms.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- meadows
- farm fields
- parks
- riverbanks
- Range
- East Asia: from the mountains of Central Asia across southern Siberia and northern China to North Korea, Japan, and Sakhalin. Butterflies in South Korea are usually grouped under the wider species Colias erate. It does not occur in North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Sunny open grassland where clover and other legumes grow.
Behavior
- Activity
- Flies from spring to fall, with two or three generations a year at lower elevations.
Life cycle
- Caterpillar food plants
- Caterpillars eat legumes such as clovers (Trifolium) and vetches (Vicia). Russian sources list it as sometimes a pest of soybean plants.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Long treated as an eastern subspecies of the Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias erate); some recent classifications rank it as its own species. Many Korean and Japanese references still use the name Colias erate, and Korean references place the butterflies of the Korean Peninsula in a different subspecies of that wider species.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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