Fluturat e Shqipërisë
Butterflies of Albania

Sylvain Cuvelier =
Anila Paparisto =

Last update: 12.iv.2024

Colias croceus / Clouded Yellow
Verhoshja krocea
Pieridae - Coliadinae

Colias croceus (Geoffrey, 1785) TL: Paris.

1a. Colias croceus, distribution map. Historical data ; Additional data from the 2018 update ; New observations since the 2018 update.
1b. Colias croceus ♂ underside. Mali i Thatë, Albania (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1c. Colias croceus, courtship in the air. NMK (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1d. Colias croceus copula. Vithkuq, Albania (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1e. Colias croceus ♀ forma helice. Romania (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1f. Colias croceus ♀. Gjirokaster (© Anila Paparisto)

Description
♂♂
Medium size butterfly. Fw: 23-27 mm. Variable depending on generation and drought.
Ups: bright yellow-orange gc.
Upf: yellow veins crossing the black border.
Uph: black border only rarely crossed by yellow veins, conspicuous sex-brand near base in s7.
♀♀
Similar to slightly larger size.
Ups: bright yellow orange gc (white or greenish-white females, forma helice, are not rare)
Upf: strong grey basal suffusion, wing border with yellow spot (not contrasting versus gc)

Similar species

♂♂ Colias aurorina sligthly larger. Ups: gc dull orange, purple reflection. Upf: yellow veins in black marginal band. Uph: similar width black marginal band. Unf: grey-green dusted, yellow gc. Colias caucasica similar size. Ups: gc orange-red. Upf: no yellow veins in black marginal band. Uph: less wide black marginal band. Uph: small pale submarginal lunules. Uph: yellow spot at analy angle Unf: orange basal gc versus margin.         ♀♀ yellow females C. aurorina sligthly larger. Ups: deeper orange gc. Uph: yellow submarginal lunules. Unh: pale grey-green gc. C. caucasica similar size. Ups: deeper orange gc. Uph: pale yellow submarginal lunules. Unf: orange basal gc versus margin. Unh: pale yellow gc. ♀♀ white females C. aurorina forma fountanei Uph: pale yellowish gc. C. caucasica forma rebeli difficult to distinguish.   ♀♀ Colias alfacariensis Quite similar to C. crocea forma helice. Upf: weak marginal border. Uph: weak grey suffusion. Uph: weak marginal border.

Life cycle
Adults: two or three generations from March to November, migrating northwards. Long life span.
Egg: 4-7 days.
Caterpillar: overwintering, feeding during frost-free periods.
Pupa: 8-15 days.

Habitat
Colias croceus inhabits a large variety of open habitats and can be encountered in high mountains up to 2500 m a.s.l.
Spatial requirement high, population density can be high, migrating.

Foodplants
Caterpillars feed on a large number of plants: Astragalus sp., Chamaecytisus sp., Colutea sp., Coronilla varia, Hippocrepis sp., Lotus sp., Medicago sp., Melilotus sp. Onobrychis sp., Robinia pseudoacacia, Securigera varia, Trifolium sp. and Vicia sp.
Butterfly feed on a large variety of flowers.

Distribution
Albania: widespread.
Balkan: AL - BG - BIH - GR - HR - NMK - MNE - RKS - RO - SLO - SRB
Europe: IB - IT - ALP - BAL - NWE - UK - SCA* - EEU (depends on migration)
Asia Minor, Near East, Transcaucasia, Caucasus and further east.

Conservation status
Colias crocea is not endangered.
Albanian Red List: NE.
IUCN Red List, category at the Mediterranean level: LC.

Useful links
Bink 2015
Pyrgus.de
Lepiforum
Euroleps

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