Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 4, 2026

Coliadinae

Coliadinae, the sulphurs or yellows, are a subfamily of butterflies with about 300 described species.

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Coliadinae
Mating dainty sulphurs (Nathalis iole)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae
Subfamily: Coliadinae
Swainson, 1827
Tribes
  • Coliadini
  • Euremini
  • Goniopterygini

and see text

Common emigrant (Catopsilia pomona) in Keesara, Rangareddy district, Andhra Pradesh, India source ↗

Coliadinae, the sulphurs or yellows, are a subfamily of butterflies with about 300 described species.

There are 36 species in North America, where they range from Mexico to northern Canada. In most species, males are easily distinguished from females. For example, in the genera Colias and Gonepteryx), males exhibit brilliant UV reflections that the females lack.1

Systematics

Molecular phylogenetic analyses have found that the Coliadinae consists of two, well-supported and reciprocally monophyletic groups2, which have variously been referred to as the Colias-clade and the Eurema-clade2 or as the tribes Euremini and Coliadini3.

The genera are as follows:

Coliadini

Euremini


Historically, the Coliadinae were arranged in three tribes- Euremini, Goniopterygini, and Coliadini- and a basal lineage, with one genus, Gandaca, of unclear placement.

Footnotes

Footnotes

  1. Lim & Li (2005)
  2. Wahlberg, Niklas; Rota, Jadranka; Braby, Michael F.; Pierce, Naomi E.; Wheat, Christopher W. (November 2014). "Revised systematics and higher classification of pierid butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) based on molecular data". Zoologica Scripta. 43 (6): 641–650. doi:10.1111/zsc.12075. ISSN 0300-3256.
  3. Zhang, Jing; Cong, Qian; Shen, Jinhui; Song, Leina; Grishin, Nick V. (2023-10-02). "Butterfly classification and species discovery using genomics". doi:10.5281/ZENODO.8400884. PMC 11759508. PMID 39867748. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
References

References