Picture from Wikipedia
Scientific Name: Colias Eurytheme
Common Name: Alfalfa Butterfly
It is Native to North America from Southern Canada to Mexico but is absent from the central and southeastern USA.
Conservation Status: Secure
An Alfalfa butterfly is considered a pollinator by feeding on nectar from various flowers while also laying on plants. When this alfalfa butterfly is a caterpillar, it can be considered a pest due to the potential damage they can do to the alfalfa plant when they consume a large amount of the plant. These caterpillars usually only feed at night.
Major threats that Alfalfa Butterflies have are when they are still caterpillars, they have the threats of pesticides and habitat loss. If they caterpillar gets a pesticide, then they have a limited time of life. With habitat loss, farmers are also cutting or bailing the alfalfa, so their habitat is taken away.
Alfalfa Butterflies have a polyandrous mating system. Polyandrous meaning females’ mate with more than one male in a season. When a male donates with spermatophore, the female will then get ready to lay the eggs for production and then have refractory period which during this time the female will not mate with any male but after the refractory period is over, she will start mating again.
The male butterflies have an ultraviolet reflectance pattern on their wings while female’s wings demonstrate ultraviolet absorbing patterns. These ultraviolet reflecting wings contain pterin pigments that absorbs wavelengths below 550nm.
With the Male and Female wings being different due to the UV-absorbing wings, most people can tell a difference of gender by the color during flight or during rest.
Sources
Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, September 6). Colias eurytheme. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colias_eurytheme
Orange sulphur (GTM Research Reserve butterfly guide) · INATURALIST. iNaturalist. (n.d.). https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/358024