📸 PhotoPhoto: 池田正樹 ( talk )masaki ikeda · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Eastern pale clouded yellow
Colias erate (Eastern pale clouded yellow · モンキチョウ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its wingspan of 5.2 cm is about 6 tenths of the long side of a credit card (8.56 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 It can be seen sipping nectar in grasslands, riverbanks, and sunny hillside meadows where clover, dandelion, and thistle bloom (National List of Species of Korea).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The eastern pale clouded yellow is a butterfly in the family Pieridae with relatively large populations across the entire Korean Peninsula, including Jeju Island and Ulleungdo. It can be seen in lowland grasslands, embankments, and sunny hillside meadows.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Males have a yellow upper wing surface with broad black markings along the outer margin of the forewing and a single black spot in the center of the forewing. There is a round orange-red spot at the end of the hindwing discal cell, and the legs and antennae have a reddish tint. Females occur in both white and yellow forms.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It sips nectar from flowers such as fleabane, thistle, clover, Korean chrysanthemum, and dandelion. Adults appear 2–3 times a year from April to October (another account in the same source records March to November, 3–4 times a year).
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It inhabits the entire Korean Peninsula, including Jeju Island and Ulleungdo (National List of Species of Korea).
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — X2F3
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000035940 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000035940
- • wikidata.org — Q135023
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Colias erate poliographus sep01 edited.png
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Andy Wilson · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Colias philodice)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.