|
| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Colias erate poliographus The Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow
Colias erate ranges from Eastern Europe to Japan and India; in Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia and thence to S.W.Arabia.
Colias poliographus Motschulsky, 1860; Etud. Ent., 9: 29, TL: "Khokodody", Japan, is the most north-easterly sub-species, appearing in Japan, Amur, Ussuri, Sakhalin and Tian Shan.
Researching for this post, I found a good pictorial website for Japanese insects here.
Good information on Palaearctic butterflies can sometimes be found here. The following comes from that source:
• TYPE LOCALITY. "Khokodody" [Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan].
• RANGE . From the mountains of Central Asia across S. Siberia and N. China to N. Korea, Japan and Sakhalin.
• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. Besides the nominate subspecies, which is distributed in the Amur and Ussuri regions to Sakhalin, the following forms have been described: ssp. tomarias Bryk, 1942 (= tokotana Bryk, 1942) - the Kuriles; ssp. naukratis Fruhstorfer, 1910 - the Altai, S. Siberia, Transbaikalia; ssp. inversa Alpheraky, 1881 - Tian-Shan; ssp. alta Staudinger, 1886 - Tian-Shan, Ghissar, S. Ghissar, Darvaz, Alai, the Pamirs.
•TAXONOMIC NOTES. According to the latest revision (Reissinger, 1989), Ñ. alta represents a distinct species; in our opinion, its taxonomic status and distribution are still in need of precision as its relations with C. hyale, C. poliographus and C. sareptensis are not clear.
• HABITAT AND BIOLOGY. Various types of meadows. Flight period: May-October in two to three generations; in montane meadows at 2,500-3,000 m a.s.l. it flies in June-July, presumably in a single generation. Host plants (Kurentzov,1970; Fukuda et al., 1982): Fabaceae (Trifolium, Vicia, etc.), sometimes a pest of soybean plants (Glycine max).
• SIMILAR SPECIES. C. erate: UPS dark border typically entire, without pale spots; FW less strongly produced. C. erschoffii: larger; UPS ground colour greenish-orange. C. hyale: smaller; UPS black pattern less strongly developed. C. sareptensis: UPS ground colour lemon-yellow; FW termen convex.
This female poliographus was feeding in weak late afternoon sunshine in the Japanese Alpine village of Shirakawago. I was particularly taken with the low lighing making the wings transparent. It is possible to see markings from both upperside and underside at the same time. The picture has been cropped, resized and sharpened for TN. |
rkailas, uleko, petrudamsa, jcoowanitwong has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes. |
|
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 135 W: 2 N: 175]](https://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(799)![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3396 W: 172 N: 3310]](https://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(10940)