Colias nastes

Labrador sulphur
Line "d", first and second images
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae
Tribe: Coliadini
Genus: Colias
Species: C. nastes
Binomial name
Colias nastes
Boisduval, 1832

Colias nastes, the Labrador sulphur, is a butterfly in the Pieridae family. In Europe, it is found in the north of Norway and Sweden and on rare occasions in Northern Finland. It is also found in North America, specifically in Alaska, Canada, and the Rocky Mountains, Washington, Montana and on Greenland. In Asia, it is found in the Altai Mountains, the border regions of Russia, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, the Sayan Mountains, the north of Siberia, and in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Description

The wingspan is 31–45 mm. C. nastes is dark grey green with grey-black margins and red fringes. The female is more yellowish and has more distinct yellowish submarginal spots on both wings. The under surface of the forewing is impure whitish, with greenish-yellow scales, the rose-red fringes are conspicuous, the hindwing is yellowish green, lighter at the margin, the white median spot is bordered with red and distally to it is placed a diffuse red spot, the rose-red fringes are broader than on the forewing. The female has a somewhat lighter under surface and on the forewing some small black submarginal spots.

Biology

The butterfly flies from May to August depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Astragalus species, especially A. alpinus and A. frigidus. In North America it is also recorded on Trifolium repens and possibly Vaccinium species.

Subspecies

References

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.