National Park Service Featured Creature U.S. Department of the Interior August 2020 Klamath Network Inventory & Monitoring Division Natural Resource Stewardship & Science Orange Sulphur eurytheme

General Description (), millions may swarm fields (becoming “pests”) when conditions allow. Flashing its pale orange wings, the orange sulphur flits low and erratically over the ground across much of North America. If Behavior and Diet @ Kenneth Dwain Harrelson you live next to alfalfa fields, you’re very likely If you’re lucky to find a perched butterfly, Orange sulphur (Colias eurytheme) to have spotted more than a few. it may be basking with wings spread out to warm itself on a cool day. Being cold- and moths are in the order blooded, or ectotherms, they regulate their . One way to distinguish but- temperature by outside sources and are most terflies from moths is that butterfly antennae active between 60 and 90 °F. Perhaps you’ve tend to be very slender and end with a club, come upon a cluster of butterflies “mud- whereas moth antennae tend to be threadlike puddling.” Males are especially attracted to (filiform) or feathery (pectinate) but never wet ground, where they sip salts and minerals end in a noticeable club. Another distinction dissolved in the water that are thought to

is that butterflies are mostly active during the improve successful mating. @ Charles Schelz day, unlike the mainly nocturnal moths. The On clover in its typical upright position. orange sulphur is a widespread and common Adults fuel up on nectar from a variety of North American butterfly belonging to the flowering species, including alfalfa, clover, of sperm + nutrients). The female lays 1 tiny family, the “Whites and Sulphurs.” milkweeds, and plants in the sunflower (aster) white (later becoming orange-red), spindle- family. tend to concentrate on shaped egg at a time on vegetation—typically The orange sulphur is medium-sized with a pea family plants, like vetch, alfalfa and clover. vetch, clover, alfalfa, and other pea family wingspan of about 5 cm (2 in). Though color plants. This host plant supports the larvae may vary among individuals, the wings are Ecology that hatch 4–5 days later. The female will typically yellowish and orange, although some Butterflies are important pollinators. They are re-mate with a new male every few days in females are white and may appear greenish. also common prey for spiders, ants, wasps, the summer, up to 4 times, laying up to 700- The top (dorsal) wing surface has dark brown dragonflies, beetles, as well as lizards, frogs, 1000 eggs in her lifetime! The , which is to black edging. Two similar looking cousins birds, mice, and even carnivorous plants, like green with a white side streak for several of its are the clouded sulphur (C. philodice) and the the sundew. With all those predators, how do growth stages (instars), eats continually until western sulphur (C. occidentalis). Given how butterflies defend themselves? Their bounc- ready to pupate about a month later. Four to difficult it is to identify an that won’t ing, erratic flight pattern is one way to avoid five days after emerging as a winged adult, the stay still, much less fly in a straight line, your predation. Ingenious camouflage is another. butterfly can mate. Depending on the climate success at identifying a butterfly will improve Some butterflies have bright, eye-shaped and location, orange sulphurs may hibernate by learning its favorite nectaring flowers and patterns on wings to ward off predators, and at any stage of the life cycle, though adults host plants (read on). some ingest plant toxins that make them that don’t hibernate live for just a few weeks. unpalatable to would-be attackers. Habitat and Range Where to See Orange sulphurs like open habitats from sea Life Cycle All Klamath Network parks. level to the mountains, such as agricultural Undergoing complete metamorphosis, from fields, pastures, meadows, and lawns coast egg to caterpillar to pupa (chrysalis) to Learn More to coast from southern Canada to central adult, orange sulphurs breed in the spring https://www.uky.edu/hort/butterflies/ Mexico. Closely tied to pea family plants through late summer, producing up to 4 all-about-butterflies broods. Males patrol for females, looking for the characteristically female ultraviolet light https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/ absorbance on the hind wings that will distin- Colias_eurytheme/ guish her from a male of the species whose wings, on the contrary, reflect ultraviolet light. Klamath Network The pair join by the tips of the abdomens to Southern Oregon University mate. Females choose a male that by appear- 1250 Siskiyou Blvd Ashland, OR 97520

@ MJ Hatfield ance (UV reflection) and smell (pheromones) Orange sulphur caterpillar (larva). likely offers the best spermatophore (package PREPARED BY SONYA DAW EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA™