Colias eurytheme: taxon details and analytics
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Pieridae
- Genus
- Colias
- Species
- Colias eurytheme
- Scientific Name
- Colias eurytheme
Summary description from Wikipedia:
Colias eurytheme
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.
Other members of this lineage including the common or clouded sulphur (C. philodice) and C. eriphyle and C. vitabunda, which are often included in C. philodice as subspecies. Hybridization runs rampant between these, making phylogenetic analyses exclusively utilizing one type of data (especially mtDNA sequences) unreliable. Therefore, little more can be said about its relationships, except that it is perhaps closer to C. (p.) eriphyle than generally assumed, strengthening the view that the latter should be considered a valid species.
The orange sulphur's caterpillars feed off various species in the pea family (Fabaceae) and are usually only found feeding at night. Occasionally this species multiplies to high numbers, and can become a serious pest to alfalfa (Medicago sativa) crops. The parasitoid wasp, Cotesia medicaginis can be used as a biocontrol agent against the caterpillars.
...Colias eurytheme in languages:
- English
- Orange Sulphur
- English
- Alfalfa butterfly
- French
- coliade de la luzerne
- Japanese
- オオアメリカモンキチョウ
Images from inaturalist.org observations:
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Parent Taxon
Sibling Taxa
- Colias adelaidae
- Colias aegidii
- Colias alba
- Colias alexandra
- Colias alfacariensis
- Colias alpherakii
- Colias aquilonaris
- Colias arida
- Colias aurorina
- Colias behrii
- Colias berylla
- Colias blameyi
- Colias canadensis
- Colias caucasica
- Colias chlorocoma
- Colias christina
- Colias christophi
- Colias chrysotheme
- Colias cocandica
- Colias croceus
- Colias dimera
- Colias diva
- Colias dubia
- Colias edusa
- Colias edusoides
- Colias electo
- Colias elis
- Colias eogene
- Colias erate
- Colias erika
- Colias erschoffi
- Colias erythas
- Colias eurytheme
- Colias eurytheme × philodice
- Colias euxanthe
- Colias felderi
- Colias fieldii
- Colias flaveola
- Colias gigantea
- Colias grumi
- Colias harfordii
- Colias hecla
- Colias heos
- Colias hyale
- Colias hyperborea
- Colias interior
- Colias johanseni
- Colias kurmaevi
- Colias lada
- Colias ladakensis
- Colias leechi
- Colias lesbia
- Colias marcopolo
- Colias marnoana
- Colias meadii
- Colias mendozina
- Colias montium
- Colias myrmidone
- Colias nastes
- Colias naukratis
- Colias nebulosa
- Colias nilagiriensis
- Colias nina
- Colias occidentalis
- Colias palaeno
- Colias pelidne
- Colias phicomone
- Colias philodice
- Colias poliographus
- Colias ponteni
- Colias pugo
- Colias rankinensis
- Colias regia
- Colias romanovi
- Colias sagartia
- Colias schleppniki
- Colias scudderii
- Colias shahfuladi
- Colias sieversi
- Colias sifanica
- Colias skinneri
- Colias staudingeri
- Colias stoliczkana
- Colias tamerlana
- Colias thisoa
- Colias thrasibulus
- Colias tibetana
- Colias tyche
- Colias vauthierii
- Colias viluiensis
- Colias wanda
- Colias weberbaueri
- Colias wiskotti
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