Colias eurytheme: Black Framed Orange Yellow of Orange Sulphur Butterfly

Summary: Colias eurytheme, known in English as Orange Sulphur, is a New World butterfly with native homelands ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico.

Orange Sulphur’s undersides: Kathy (rittyrats), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Colias eurytheme is a New World butterfly native to North America. The bicoastal butterfly ranges across native homelands from southern Canada to central Mexico.

Spotty absences occur in the eastern United States, such as northwestern Alabama; central Florida; most of Georgia; northeastern to north central Illinois; most of Indiana; central western to southern Minnesota.

Colias eurytheme is known commonly in English as Alfalfa Butterfly or Orange Sulphur.

Orange Sulphur butterflies are attracted to open habitats, such as alfalfa and clover fields, meadows, prairie grasslands, roadsides and woodlands.

As sun lovers, Orange Sulphur butterflies avoid closed-canopy forests, in which tree crowns shadow most of the ground.

As a pierid butterfly, i.e., member of the Pieridae family, Orange Sulphurs display the family’s typical orange, white, or yellow coloration.

Orange Sulphur butterflies exhibit sexual dimorphism, or differences of appearance between females and males, as well as polymorphism, or myriad variations, of each gender’s color patterns. Males display rich orange-to-yellow uppersides with wide black borders and dotted with a black cell spot in each forewing and an orange cell spot in each hindwing. Females display yellow-to-white uppersides with light spots and irregular black borders.

Undersides present a muted palette of orange, yellow-green and yellow. The undersides sport a silver cell spot in each wing, with reddish tones and a satellite spot framing the hindwings and thick black rings in the forewing.

As a mid-size butterfly, Orange Sulphurs exhibit wingspans of 1/38 to 2 3/4 inches (3.5 to 7 centimeters).

Blackberry is a bramble attractive to Orange Sulphur butterflies (Colias eurytheme); Black Butte variety released by ARS scientists in Corvallis, Oregon, weighs almost twice as much as other fresh blackberry varieties: Scott Bauer/USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

As May transitioned into June in 2015, a male Orange Sulphur flitted near me among blades of grass in the strip of my yard between the south retaining wall and the southern half of my front porch. The preoccupied butterfly visited a few blades before flying over to the expansive meadow along my yard’s southern border.

The meadow’s immediate attraction appeared to center in the huge wild brier patch of wild, flowering blackberry bushes (Rubus fruticosus). White Clover (Trifolium repens) and White Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba), which number among hosts in the Fabaceae family favored by Orange Sulphur caterpillars, fragrantly frame the eastern fringes of the blackberry patch.

Orange Sulphur butterflies always bring cheery colorfulness into the faunal and floral landscapes of my outdoor world.

Orange Sulphur, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Metroparks Toledo district, Lucas County, northwestern Ohio; Monday, Oct. 8, 2007, 14:13:45: Benny Mazur (Benimoto), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Orange Sulphur’s undersides: Kathy (rittyrats), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/rittysdigiez/1444378704/

Blackberry is a bramble attractive to Orange Sulphur butterflies (Colias eurytheme); Black Butte variety released by ARS scientists in Corvallis, Oregon, weighs almost twice as much as other fresh blackberry varieties: Scott Bauer/USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Butte_blackberry.jpg;
Public Domain, via USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) @ https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/images/photos/k7774-1/

Orange Sulphur, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Metroparks Toledo district, Lucas County, northwestern Ohio; Monday, Oct. 8, 2007, 14:13:45: Benny Mazur (Benimoto), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/benimoto/1519079685/

For further information:

Barton, B. “Colias eurytheme.” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. 2004.
Available @ http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Colias_eurytheme/

Holm, Heather. Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants. Minnetonka MN: Hillcrest Media Group, 2014.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Chives (Allium schoenoprasum): Bon Appétit! for Azure, Blue, Marblewing, and Sulphur Butterflies." Wizzley > Plants & Gardening > Plants > Herb Plants.
Available @ http://wizzley.com/chives-allium-schoenoprasum/

Marriner, Derdriu. “Marigolds (Tagetes): Flavorous, Floriferous, and Fragrant to Skipper, Sulphur, and White Butterflies.” Wizzley > Plants & Gardening > Plants > Garden Plants.
Available @ http://wizzley.com/marigolds-genus-tagetes/

“Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme).” Gardens with Wings > Identify Butterflies.
Available @ http://www.gardenswithwings.com/butterfly/Orange%20Sulphur/index.html

“Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme Boisduval, 1852.” Butterflies and Moths > Species.
Available @ http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Colias-eurytheme