Eurema brigitta

Small grass yellow
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae
Genus: Eurema
Species: E. brigitta
Binomial name
Eurema brigitta
(Cramer, 1780)
Synonyms
  • Papilio brigitta Stoll, [1780]
  • Maiva sulphurea Grose-Smith & Kirby, 1893
  • Xanthidia pulchella Boisduval, 1833
  • Terias drona Horsfield, [1829]
  • Terias senna C. & R. Felder, [1865]
  • Terias fruhstorferi Moore, 1906
  • Terias hainana Moore, 1878
  • Terias rubella Wallace, 1867[1]
  • Papilio libythea Fabricius, 1798[2]
  • Terias australis Wallace, 1867
E. b. brigitta, Mabibi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Eurema brigitta, the small grass yellow[3][4] or broad-bordered grass yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites. It is found in India, other parts of Asia, Australia and Africa.[3][4][2][1]

Description

Wet-season form: Male. Upper-side somewhat paler yellow. Fore-wing with the outer marginal black band; the apical edge of costa and the cilia rosy-red. Hind-wing with the black outer band somewhat narrower, macular, the decreasing portions each with a more prolonged inner-tooth, and the yellow ground-colour between each extending to the outer edge. Underside pale yellow, the fore-wing also having a very slightly defined sub-apical inwardly-oblique squamous streak. Fore-wing with the entire costal edge and outer marginal cilia, and also the outer marginal cilia of the hind-wing, rosy-red. Female. Upper-side. Apical edge between the subcostals of fore-wing, and cilia of both wings paler rosy-red. Underside with the markings on hind-wing slightly visible. Fore-wing above with the black outer band broken beneath the lower median veinlet. Hind-wing with the outer band similar to male, its portions slightly broader. Underside similar to male, the markings being slightly more defined.

Intermediate form: Male. Upper-side. Fore-wing with the outer band slightly narrower than in wet form; cilia paler red. Hind-wing with the marginal macular band narrower, and composed of smaller portions. Underside similar to wet form. Female. Upperside. Fore-wing with the outer band less broken at its posterior end than in wet form. Hind-wing with the marginal macular band less distinct and narrower. Underside similar to the male.

Dry-season form: Both sexes much smaller than in intermediate form. Cilia paler. Male. Fore-wing above with the inner-edge of the marginal band less sinuated than in intermediate form, its posterior end indistinctly broken. Hind-wing with the lower portions of the macular band somewhat larger and less dentate. Underside. Both wings with less defined markings than in intermediate form. Female. Upper-side. Fore-wing with the band slightly broken at posterior end. Hind-wing with the lower portions of band somewhat wider. Underside with the markings indistinct.

— Charles Swinhoe, Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VII[1]

The wingspan is 30–35 mm. Adults are on the wing year-round.[5]

The larvae feed on Hypericum aethiopicum and Chamaecrista mimosoides.[5]

Subspecies

  • E. b. brigitta (tropical Africa)
  • E. b. pulchella (Boisduval, 1833) (Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoro Islands, Aldabra Islands)
  • E. b. drona (Horsfield, [1829]) (Sumatra, Java to Lombok)
  • E. b. senna (C. & R. Felder, [1865]) (Peninsular Malaya, Singapore, Indochina)
  • E. b. fruhstorferi (Moore, 1906) (eastern Indo-China)
  • E. b. ina Eliot, 1956 (southern Sulawesi)
  • E. b. hainana (Moore, 1878) (Hainan)
  • E. b. rubella (Wallace, 1867) (Sri Lanka, India, Burma to southern China, Nicobars)
  • E. b. formosana Matsumura, 1919 (Taiwan)
  • E. b. yunnana (Mell)
  • E. b. australis (Wallace, 1867) (Australia, New Guinea, Papua New Guinea)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Swinhoe, Charles (1905–1910). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VII. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 38–40.
  2. 1 2 One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Bingham, C.T. (1907). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. II (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd. pp. 247–248.
  3. 1 2 Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 69. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  4. 1 2 Savela, Markku. "Eurema brigitta (Stoll, [1780])". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
  • Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society.
  • Gaonkar, Harish (1996). Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System. Bangalore, India: Centre for Ecological Sciences.
  • Gay, Thomas; Kehimkar, Isaac David; Punetha, Jagdish Chandra (1992). Common Butterflies of India. Nature Guides. Bombay, India: World Wide Fund for Nature-India by Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195631647.
  • Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. ISBN 978-8173713545.
  • Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. ISBN 978-8170192329.


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