Colias tyche explained

Colias tyche, the Booth's sulphur or pale Arctic clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from Baffin Island west along the Hudson Bay and arctic coasts of the Nunavut and Northwest Territories mainland and the southern tier of Arctic Islands to northern Yukon, Alaska, and Eurasia.

Description

The wingspan is 28–43 mm.is a small to medium-sized Colias butterfly with pale green to greenish-white or greenish-yellow wings, more or less suffused with grey-green in the basal part of the hindwings and very visible brown veins. The dark borders are wider in the female and encompass a submarginal line of pale yellow spots bordered with black in the male, black spotted with yellow in the female. Colias philodice vitabunda females are often white.The underside is greenish very marked with dark scales.^[1]

Biology

The butterfly flies in June to August depending on the location.^[2]

The larvae feed on legume species.

Subspecies

C. t. tyche (northern Eurasia)
C. t. antonkozlovi Yakovlev, 2020 (Russia, Northern Siberia, Taimyr Peninsula, Plateau Putorana)
C. t. relicta Kurentzov, 1970 (Chukot Peninsula, Far East)
C. t. werdandi Zetterstedt, 1839 (northern Europe)
C. t. magadanica Churkin, Grieshuber, Bogdanov & Zamolodchikov, 2001 (Magadan)
C. t. flinti Churkin, Grieshuber, Bogdanov & Zamolodchikov, 2001 (Wrangel Island)
C. t. olga Churkin, Grieshuber, Bogdanov & Zamolodchikov, 2001 (East Chukotka)
C. t. boothii Curtis, 1835 (Northwest Territories, Yukon, Baffin Island, Victoria Island, Banks Island, Alaska)
C. t. thula Hovanitz, 1955 (Alaska and in Canada on Banks, Victoria and Melville Islands) may be a full species.

Both of the Nearctic subspecies C. t. boothii (Booth's sulphur) and C. t. thula (Thula sulphur) are treated as valid species by some authors.

Similar species

Hecla sulphur (C. hecla)
Labrador sulphur (C. nastes)

Etymology

Named in the Classical tradition. Tyche is the deity of chance and luck in Greek mythology.

References

Sources

Churkin, S., Grieshuber, J ., Bogdanov, P. & Zamolodchikov, D. (2001). Taxonomic notes on Colias tyche Böber, 1812 and Colias nastes Boisduval, 1832 (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) from the Russian Far East with the descriptions of new subspecies. Helios 2:103-116, pls.8-10.
Churkin, S., Grieshuber, J ., Bogdanov, P. & Zamolodchikov, D. (2001). Ein Ersatzname für eine kürzlich beschriebene Unterart von Colias tyche Böber, 1912 (Lepidoptera, Pieridae). Atalanta 32(1/2):262-263.

External links

Booth's sulphur, Neactica.com
Booth's sulphur, Alaska, Butterflies and moths of North America
State Darwin Museum Darwin Museum type specimen images of Colias tyche olga Churkin, Greishuber, Bogdanov et Zamolodchikov, 2001

Notes and References

Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Rilley: The Butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa (A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Europe). Paul Parey Publishers, 1971, ISBN 3-490-02418-4 .
http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butterflies/species/Booth%27sSulphur_e.php Booth's Sulphur