''Colotis vestalis'', the white Arab, is a small

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, that is, the yellows and whites, which is found in India, Pakistan, Iran, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania. It has a wingspan of 4–5 cm.

Description

Wet-season brood

The male has a white ground colour on the upperside, and the forewings and hindwings have broad terminal black bands. The forewing base, costal margin broadly and discoidal cell except at its lower apical area are heavily irrorated (speckled) with dusky-grey scales with a short streak at upper apex of cell joined to a large spot on the discocellulars, black; superposed on the black terminal area are two small preapical spots and a much larger subterminal spot in interspace 3, all of the white ground colour; minute white terminal specks also, often more or less obsolescent, in the interspaces. Hindwing more uniform, very slightly irrorated with grey scales at base, the black terminal band immaculate. Underside: greenish yellow sparsely sprinkled with black scales, the yellow very pale on the disc of the forewing, fading to white along its dorsal margin; discocellular spot and three subterminal posterior spots, that are placed in a curve, black; the lowest spot of the three sometimes extended to the dorsal margin (var. ''puellaris''). Hindwing: uniform, with a very small annular spot on the discocellulars. Cilia white. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black, the antennae speckled and tipped with white, the thorax clothed with long bluish-grey hairs; beneath: palpi, thorax and abdomen white. The female upperside is very similar to that of the male, with her terminal bands broader and brownish rather than black. The female's underside base and cellular area on forewing white are suffused with greenish yellow, while the costa and apex of forewing and the whole surface of the hindwing are pale ochraceous. The forewing has black spots as in the male, while the hindwing in a few specimens has an anterior, discal, somewhat obscure, macular, incomplete band. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen are the same as in the male.

Dry-season brood

Similar to the wet-season brood, but on the upperside the black markings are duller in tint and narrower, while on the underside in both sexes the costal and apical areas on the forewing and the whole surface of the hindwing vary from pale ochraceous to dark reddish ochraceous. Variety ''peelus'', Swinhoe, has the ground colour on the upperside pale canary yellow.

Distribution

It is recorded from

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

, the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and western India ( Kutch;

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

;

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, south to parts of Northern

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

). It is also found in the provinces around the Persian Gulf.

Subspecies

*''Colotis vestalis vestalis'' *''Colotis vestalis castalis'' (Staudinger, 1884) (Somalia, southern Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, north-eastern Tanzania) *''Colotis vestalis nadir'' Gross & Ebert, 1975

References