Clouded yellow
The clouded yellow is a bright golden orange butterfly with wide black edges on its wings. When it rests, it always keeps its wings closed, so you mostly see the greenish yellow underside. It is a great traveller that flies north across Europe every summer.
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Fun facts
In some years huge numbers fly north from the south. In Britain these are called clouded yellow years.
In good years they get all the way to Scandinavia.
One mother can lay up to 600 eggs, one by one, on the leaves of food plants.
About 5 out of every 100 females are pale cream instead of golden yellow.
In warm weather a caterpillar can grow up and turn into a chrysalis in just one month.
Most asked questions about Clouded yellow
?What does the clouded yellow eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar from flowers like thistles and dandelions. The caterpillar eats clover and alfalfa.
?How big is the clouded yellow?
Its wings are about 4.5 to 5.4 centimetres from tip to tip.
?Why do you never see the black edges on its wings?
Because it always rests with its wings closed. The black edges are only on the top side.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Colias croceus
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Pieridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pieridae
- Lives on
- Africa, Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Colias croceus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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