''Colias alfacariensis'', Berger's clouded yellow, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia.DeVries P. J. in Levi ...

. It was separated from the pale clouded yellow, ''C. hyale'', in 1905. Berger's clouded yellow is a

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

species (South and Central Europe, South Russia,

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and temperate China also

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, Caucasus and

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

Description

The wings of the male have a yellow ground colour, the females have a greenish-white ground colour, only the underside of the hind wings is yellowish. The upper wing side of both sexes has a dusted dark brown to black marginal band, which is only narrow on the hind wings. In the cell of the forewings there is a black spot on the upper and lower sides. The males have on the upperside of the hind wings in the cell an orange spot with a red border, on the underside this spot is bright and clearly outlined in red. This spot may be divided into two by the red border, so that it resembles an eight similar to ''Colias hyale'' and other yellow members of the genus Colias. In the females, the orange spot on the top of the hind wings is not bordered. The caterpillars , on the other hand, clearly differ from the caterpillars of ''Colias hyale'' after the second moult. Both caterpillars are green, however, the caterpillar of ''Colias alfacariensis'' has four eye-catching yellow lines with black dots while the caterpillar of the ''Colias hyale'' has only two thin side lines. (MHNT) Colias alfacariensis - Novy Jicin, Moravie Tchéquie - female dorsal.jpg, ''Colias alfacariensis'' ♀ (MHNT) Colias alfacariensis - Novy Jicin, Moravie Tchéquie - female ventral.jpg, ''Colias alfacariensis'' ♀ △ Similar species *'' Colias hyale'' ''Colias alfacariensis'' together with ''Colias hyale'' forms a kind of complex. Since the butterflies of both species develop many variations, the two species cannot be differentiated by morphology or on the basis of a genitalic examination . Information about the habitat and the geographical distribution provide only an indication of which of the two species may be involved. A safe distinction is possible only on the completely different caterpillars. *''

Colias crocea ''Colias croceus'', clouded yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites. Subspecies and forms * ''Colias croceus croceus'' * ''Colias croceus'' f. ''deserticola'' (Verity, 1909) * ''Colias croceus'' f. '' ...

'' *'' Colias phicomone'' *'' Colias palaeno'' *'' Colias chrysotheme'' *''

Colias erate ''Colias'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Pieridae. They are often called clouded yellows; the North American name "sulphurs" is elsewhere used for Coliadinae in general. The closest living relative is the genus ''Zerene'', which is so ...

Biology

The larval food plants are horseshoe vetch (''

Hippocrepis comosa ''Hippocrepis comosa'', the horseshoe vetch, is a species of perennial flowering plant belonging to the genus '' Hippocrepis'' in the family Fabaceae. Description The overall appearance depends on its habitat: sometimes it forms upright clump ...

'') and crown vetch (''

Coronilla varia ''Securigera varia'' ( synonym ''Coronilla varia''), commonly known as crownvetch or purple crown vetch, is a low-growing legume vine. It is native to Africa, Asia and Europe and is commonly used throughout the United States and Canada for eros ...

'') on which the female lays the eggs. The butterfly is found on calcareous marshy and dry grasslands and in dry shrubbery or lightly forested areas. They avoid cool and rainy areas. They fly in two generations in May, June and August, September or in three generations from May to October feeding at flowers.

Migration

This species is a rare vagrant to south England, the North German plain and Denmark.

Subspecies

*''C. a. vihorlatensis'' Reissinger, 1989 – Carpathians *''C. a. remota'' Reissinger, 1989 – S. Europe, Caucaus *''C. a. fontainei'' Reissinger, 1989 – Armenia, Talysh, Kopet-Dagh *''C. a. saissanica'' Reissinger, 1989 – S. E. Kazakhstan

References

* Otokar Kudrna, 1981 On the Nomenclature of ''Colias alfacariensis'' Berger 1948. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) ''Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera'' 20(2): 103-11

* *

External links

''Colias alfacariensis'' (= ''sareptensis'') images
at Consortium for the Barcode of Life alfacariensis Butterflies of Europe Butterflies described in 1871 Butterflies of Asia {{Pieridae-stub