Colotis etrida

Colotis etrida, the little orange tip,[1][2] is a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is native to India,[1] Sri Lanka[1][2] and Pakistan.[3]

Colotis etrida
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pieridae
Genus:	Colotis
Species:	C. etrida
Binomial name
Colotis etrida (Boisduval, 1836)
Synonyms
Anthocharis etrida Boisduval, 1836 Teracolus pernotatus Butler, 1876 Teracolus farrinus Butler, 1876 Teracolus purus Butler, 1876 Teracolus casimirus Butler, 1876 Teracolus bimbura Butler, 1876

Description

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

The ground colour on the upperside of the males is white, sparsely irrorated (speckled) at base of forewings and hindwings with black scales. The forewing has a small black spot on the discocellulars; apex broadly black, with an enclosed oval, curved, rich orange patch placed obliquely and traversed by the veins, which there are black; inner edge of black area diffuse. Hindwing is uniform, except for a preapical short diffuse black streak from the costa, sometimes absent, and a series of terminal black spots that in specimens from moist localities are very large. Underside is white with the cell and apex of forewing suffused with sulphur yellow, the orange patch of the upperside shows through by transparency, its inner edge margined anteriorly by a very obscure oblique fuscous band. Hindwing has the preapical short transverse black streak on the upperside obscurely indicated.[4][5]

The female is very similar to the male but can be distinguished as follows: Upperside of the forewing has a narrower orange patch enclosed within the black apical area; a small black spot in middle of interspace 1 and another in interspace 3. Hindwing has the terminal spots slightly larger. On the underside the apex of forewing and whole surface of hindwing suffused lightly, or in specimens from very dry localities heavily, with ochraceous. Forewing has spots in interspaces 1 and 3 as on the upperside. Hindwing: a curved, almost complete, discal series of fuscous spots; otherwise as in the male.[4]

In both sexes the antennae vary from white to pale brownish; head, thorax and abdomen black, the head and thorax with short greyish-brown hairs; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen white.[4]

Range

It is found from the outer ranges of the Himalayas throughout peninsular India except Bengal.[4][1]

Subspecies C. e. limbata is found in Sri Lanka. and it has the black apical area on the forewing darker, broader, occupying about a third of the wing; the orange patch enclosed within it is proportionately narrower, so that the black on its inner margin has the appearance of being broader proportionately than it is in the typical form. Very often this inner edge is bordered by a suffusion of sulphur yellow. Specimens from south Indian hills resemble this closely.[4]

Larva

The larva is narrow and uniformly green with a yellow, white, or pink-tinged line along each side.[4]

Pupa

The pupa is compressed with a long, upturned end. It is green when new, turning a brown-mottled grey.[4]

Biology

The food plants of this species include the toothbrush tree (Salvadora persica), pilu (Salvadora oleoides), and Indian cadaba (Cadaba indica).[3]

Subspecies

• Colotis etrida etrida (India)[1]
• Colotis etrida limbata Butler, 1876 (Sri Lanka)

Gallery

• 
  Male underside
• 
  Female upperside
• 

See also

• List of butterflies of India (Pieridae)

References

1. Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 75. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
2. Savela, Markku. "Colotis etrida (Boisduval, 1836)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
3. Perveen, F., Khan, A., & Sikander. (2014). Characteristics of butterfly (Lepidoptera) fauna from Kabal, Swat, Pakistan. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2(1) 56-69.
4. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Bingham, C.T. (1907). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. II (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd. pp. 270–271.
5. Swinhoe, Charles (1905–1910). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VII. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 132–134.CS1 maint: date format (link)