Colias meadii

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Pieridae

'The Pieridae are members of the Superfamily Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Worldwide in distribution, most species are found in the tropics. Adults have medium to small wings that are white, yellow, or orange, with some black or red, and many have hidden ultraviolet patterns that are used in courtship . Species with more than one generation usually have distinct seasonal variation in appearance . Adults of all species visit flowers for nectar, and adults of both sexes have three pairs of walking legs . Males patrol in search of receptive mates, and females lay columnar eggs on leaves, buds, and stems. The majority of caterpillars of North American whites and sulphurs feed on legumes or crucifers (members of the Mustard family ). Typically, temperate species overwinter in the pupal or larval stage , while tropical species overwinter as adults.

'[1]

Physical Description

Habitat

At or near treeline in high mountains, tundra , subalpine meadows.

Biology

Diet

Caterpillar hosts: Plants in the pea family (Fabaceae) including clover (Trifolium) and Astragalus species. Adult food: Flower nectar including alpine sunflower and asters.

Reproduction

Males patrol open tundra for females. Females lay eggs singly on host plant leaves, which are then eaten by the caterpillars. Third-stage caterpillars overwinter .

Behavior

Flight: One flight from July-August.

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 08-Feb-2007

Similar Species

Members of the genus Colias

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 56 species and subspecies in this genus:

C. alexandra (Queen Alexandra's Sulphur) · C. alexandra alexandra (Queen Alexandra's Sulphur) · C. alfacariensis (Berger's Clouded Yellow) · C. aurorina (Dawn Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. aurorina aurorina (Dawn Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. behri (Sierra Green Sulfur Butterfly) · C. behrii (Sierra Sulphur) · C. canadensis (Canadian Sulphur) · C. caucasica (Balkan Clouded Yellow) · C. cesonia (Dog Face) · C. chippewa (Heath Sulphur) · C. christina (Christina Sulphur) · C. christina christina (Christina Sulphur) · C. christina kluanensis (Kluane Sulphur) · C. chrysotheme (Lesser Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. crocea (Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. croceus (Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. erate (Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow) · C. eurytheme (Alfalfa Butterfly) · C. gigantea (Giant Sulphur) · C. gigantea gigantea (Giant Sulphur) · C. gigantea harroweri (Southern Giant Sulphur) · C. harfordii (Harford's Sulphur) · C. hecla (Hecla Sulphur) · C. hecla hecla (Artic Sulphur) · C. hecla hela (Hela Sulphur) · C. hyale (Pale Clouded Yellow) · C. interior (Pink-Edged Sulphur) · C. johanseni (Johansen's Sulphur) · C. meadii (Mead's Sulphur) · C. meadii elis (Elis Sulphur) · C. myrmidone (Danube Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. myrmidone myrmidone (Danube Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. nastes (Labrador Sulphur) · C. nastes aliaska (Alaskan Arctic Sulphur) · C. nastes moina (Manitoba Arctic Sulphur) · C. nastes nastes (Labrador Sulphur) · C. nastes streckeri (Strecker's Arctic Sulphur) · C. nastes werdandi (Nastes Sulphur) · C. occidentalis (Western Sulphur) · C. occidentalis chrysomelas (Golden Sulphur) · C. occidentalis pseudochristina (Western Sulphur) · C. palaeno (Palaeno Sulphur) · C. palaeno chippewa (Chippewa Sulphur) · C. palaeno palaeno (Moorland Clouded Yellow Butterfly) · C. pelidne (Pelidne Sulphur) · C. pelidne pelidne (Pelidne Sulphur) · C. pelidne skinneri (Skinner's Pelidne Sulphur) · C. phicomone (Mountain Clouded Yellow) · C. philodice (Clouded Sulfur) · C. philodice philodice (Clouded Sulphur) · C. philodice vitabunda (Lively Clouded Sulphur) · C. scudderi (Scudder's Sulphur) · C. scudderii (Scudder's Sulphur) · C. tyche (Booth's Sulphur) · C. tyche thula (Thula Sulphur)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A manual of North American butterflies by Charles J. Maynard. Boston: De Wolfe, Fiske, 1891. url , .
• Annotated checklist of the butterflies of Illinois [by] Roderick R. Irwin [and] John C. Downey. Urbana, Illinois Natural History Survey, 1973. url p. 16.
• Bibliographical catalogue of the described tranformations of North American Lepidoptera by Henry Edwards. Washington: G.P.O., 1889. url .
• Bibliography (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1993. url p. 21, p. 93.
• Bulletin / University of Montana. Missoula: University of Montana, 1901-1910. url p. 17.
• Catalogue of Papilionidae & Pieridae (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera) / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill: C.A. Bridges, 1988. url p. 20.
• Entomological news, and proceedings of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia[Entomological Rooms of the Academy of Natural Sciences] url , , , , , , , p. 165, p. 166, p. 166, p. 331, p. 51.
• Illustrations of diurnal Lepidoptera, with descriptions, by Andrew Gray Weeks, jr. Boston, Printed by the University Press, Cambridge, 1905-1911. url .
• Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. Washington, etc.: Entomological Society of Washington url p. 78.
• Psyche. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge Entomological Club url p. 244.
• Report upon United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian / Washington [D.C.]: G.P.O., 1875-1889. url p. 750.
• Science. New York, N.Y.: [s.n.]1880- url p. 448.
• The Lepidopterists' news: the monthly newsletter of the Lepidopterists' Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Lepidopterists' Society, 1947-1958. url p. 93.
• The Museum. Albion, N.Y.: W.F. Webb, [1894-1900] url p. 170.
• The University of Kansas science bulletin. 2 1904 [Lawrence]: University of Kansas, 1902-1996. url p. 324.
• The butterflies of Montana: with keys for determination of species, by Morton John Elrod. .. assisted by Frances Inez Maley, A. B. A nature study bulletin, for the use of teachers, students and others who wish to study the butterflies; with one colored plate, twelve Missoula, Mont.: University of Montana, 1906. url p. 17.
• The butterflies of North America William H. Edwards. Philadelphia: American Entomological Society, 1868-1872 url .
• Transactions of the American Entomological Society Philadelphia: The Society, 1890- url p. 352.
• Transactions of the. .. annual meetings of the Kansas Academy of Science. Topeka, Kan.: Kansas Pub. House, 1883-1901. url p. 159.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• GloBIS (GART): Global Butterfly Information System. Release date: November 23, 2008
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 26, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from provider.
• LepIndex: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index
• Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Mountain Prairie Information Node. March 26, 2007.
• Opler, Paul A., Kelly Lotts, and Thomas Naberhaus, coordinators. 2009. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Big Sky Institute. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ (Version of April 17, 2009).
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 26, 2008:

• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Butterflies and Skippers of Alberta Project
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Canadian National Collection (CNC) of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Lepidopterists Society Season Summaries 1973-1997
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Lyman Entomological Museum
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Norbert Kondla Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Provincial Museum of Alberta
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Ross A. Layberry Observations
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Royal British Columbia Museum Entomology Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Royal Saskatchewan Museum Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Spencer Entomological Museum
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: University of Guelph, Department of Environmental Biology

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2631185
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Gar-1948
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: IILEPA8060
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 172341

Footnotes

1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=15&sci=Pieridae&com=Whites and Sulphurs [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.