Small grass yellow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Small grass yellow |
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| Imago (adult butterfly) and final instars (caterpillars) | |
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| Genus: |
Eurema
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| Species: |
brigitta
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The Eurema brigitta, also known as the small grass yellow or broad-bordered grass yellow, is a tiny butterfly. It belongs to the Pieridae family, which includes many yellow and white butterflies. You can find this butterfly in India, other parts of Asia, Australia, and Africa.
Contents
What Does the Small Grass Yellow Butterfly Look Like?
This butterfly is quite small, with a wingspan (the distance from one wingtip to the other) of about 30 to 35 millimeters. That's about the length of a paperclip! Adult butterflies can be seen flying around all year long.
The small grass yellow butterfly has different looks depending on the season.
- During the wet season, the males are a paler yellow. Their front wings have a black band along the outer edge. The tips of their wings and the tiny hairs on the edges (called cilia) are a pretty rosy-red color. Their back wings also have a black band, but it's a bit narrower and looks like a series of spots.
- In the dry season, both male and female butterflies are usually smaller. Their colors are also paler. The black bands on their wings might be less clear or slightly broken. This change helps them blend in with their surroundings in different weather.
Life Cycle: What Do They Eat?
The young forms of the butterfly, called larvae (caterpillars), need specific plants to grow. They munch on plants from the Hypericum family, like Hypericum aethiopicum. They also eat plants from the Chamaecrista family, such as Chamaecrista mimosoides. These plants are their main food source as they grow bigger.
Where Do Different Types of Small Grass Yellow Butterflies Live?
Butterflies of the same species can sometimes have slightly different forms depending on where they live. These different forms are called subspecies. Here are some of the places where you can find different subspecies of the small grass yellow butterfly:
- E. b. brigitta – Found in tropical parts of Africa.
- E. b. pulchella (Boisduval, 1833) – Lives in Madagascar, Mauritius, the Comoro Islands, and the Aldabra Islands.
- E. b. drona (Horsfield, [1829]) – Found from Sumatra and Java all the way to Lombok.
- E. b. senna (C.&R.Felder, [1865]) – You can see this one in Peninsular Malaya, Singapore, and Indochina.
- E. b. fruhstorferi (Moore, 1906) – Found in eastern Indochina.
- E. b. ina Eliot, 1956 – Lives in southern Sulawesi.
- E. b. hainana (Moore, 1878) – Found on Hainan Island.
- E. b. rubella (Wallace, 1867) – This subspecies is in Sri Lanka, India, Burma, southern China, and the Nicobar Islands.
- E. b. formosana Matsumura, 1919 – Lives in Taiwan.
- E. b. yunnana (Mell) – Found in Yunnan.
- E. b. australis (Wallace, 1867) – This one is in Australia, New Guinea, and Papua New Guinea.
Images for kids
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E. b. brigitta, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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E. b. pulchella, Madagascar
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See also
- List of butterflies of India
- List of butterflies of India (Pieridae)
