Nilgiri clouded yellow explained

The Nilgiri clouded yellow, Colias nilagiriensis, sometimes considered a subspecies of Colias erate, is a small butterfly native to Shola forests of the Western Ghats. It belongs to the family Pieridae.^[1]

Some authors treat this as a subspecies of the eastern pale clouded yellow (C. erate)^[2] while others consider it on the basis of its geographic isolatation as a phylogenetically distinct species Colias nilagiriensis.^{[1] [3]}

Description

Charles Thomas Bingham (1907) gives a detailed description: It is found in Shola forests, which are subtropical rainforests in the valleys of tall meadows in the Western Ghats. Therefore, it has a range from Kudremukha in central Karnataka, to Coorg, Wayanad, Nilgiris, and down to Silent Valley National Park, to the Anamalais. It is also found in the Periyar National Park, where it is found in the Sholas around Kakki Reservoir, and down to the Pothigai and Ponmudi.

Life history

The larvae feed on Parochetus communis and Trifolium.^[4]

See also

• List of butterflies of India (Pieridae)

Other references

• Book: Evans . W.H. . William Harry Evans . The Identification of Indian Butterflies . 2nd . Mumbai, India . . 1932.
• Book: Gaonkar, Harish . Harish Gaonkar . Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System . Centre for Ecological Sciences . Bangalore, India . 1996.
• Book: Gay . Thomas . Kehimkar . Isaac David . Punetha . Jagdish Chandra . Common Butterflies of India . Nature Guides . World Wide Fund for Nature-India by Oxford University Press . Bombay, India . 1992 . 978-0195631647.
• Book: Kunte, Krushnamegh . Butterflies of Peninsular India . India, A Lifescape . Hyderabad, India . Universities Press . 2000 . 978-8173713545.
• Book: Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander . Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth . Butterflies of the Indian Region . 1957 . Bombay, India . . 978-8170192329.

Notes and References

1. Book: A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India . Varshney . R.K. . Smetacek. Peter. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. 2015. 978-81-929826-4-9. New Delhi. 23. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164.
2. Web site: Savela . Markku . C. e. nilagiriensis C. & R. Felder, 1859 . Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms . July 2, 2018.
3. Book: Swinhoe, Charles. Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VII . Charles Swinhoe. Lovell Reeve and Co.. 1905–1910. London. 161–162.
4. 2018-04-10. Larval host plants of the buterfies of the Western Ghats, India. Ravikanthachari Nitin. V.C. Balakrishnan. Paresh V. Churi. S. Kalesh. Satya Prakash. Krushnamegh Kunte. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 10. 4. 11524. JoTT. 10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550. free.