Labrador sulphur facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Labrador sulphur
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Scientific classification

The Labrador sulphur (scientific name: Colias nastes) is a type of butterfly. It belongs to the family Pieridae, which includes many white and yellow butterflies.

You can find this butterfly in many cold places around the world. In Europe, it lives in northern Norway, Sweden, and sometimes in northern Finland. In North America, it flies in Alaska, Canada, the Rocky Mountains, Washington, Montana, and Greenland. In Asia, it is found in the Altai Mountains, parts of Russia, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, the Sayan Mountains, northern Siberia, and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

What the Labrador Sulphur Looks Like

The Labrador sulphur butterfly is not very big. Its wingspan (the distance from one wingtip to the other) is usually between 31 and 45 millimeters. That's about the length of two small paperclips!

These butterflies are mostly dark grey-green. They have grey-black edges on their wings. Their wing fringes, which are like tiny hairs along the edges, are red.

Female Labrador sulphurs look a bit different from males. They are usually more yellowish. They also have clearer yellowish spots near the edges of both their top and bottom wings.

If you look at the underside of their front wings, they are a dull whitish color. They have some yellowish-green scales. The rose-red fringes are easy to see. The underside of their back wings is yellowish-green and lighter near the edges. There's a white spot in the middle, outlined in red. Sometimes, there's also a blurry red spot near it. The rose-red fringes on the back wings are wider than on the front wings.

Female butterflies have a slightly lighter color on their undersides. They also have some small black spots near the edges of their front wings.

Life Cycle of the Labrador Sulphur

The Labrador sulphur butterfly flies around during the warmer months. You can usually see them from May to August. The exact time depends on where they live.

Like all butterflies, the Labrador sulphur starts its life as a larva, also known as a caterpillar. These caterpillars need specific plants to eat and grow. They mostly feed on plants from the Astragalus family. Their favorite foods include A. alpinus and A. frigidus.

In North America, these caterpillars have also been seen eating Trifolium repens, which is a common type of clover. They might also eat plants from the Vaccinium family, which includes blueberries and cranberries.

Different Types of Labrador Sulphur Butterflies

Just like there are different breeds of dogs, there are different types of butterflies within a species. These are called subspecies. They are slightly different from each other, often because they live in different places.

Here are a few examples of Labrador sulphur subspecies:

• C. n. nastes: Found in places like Altai, Sayan, Alaska, and Greenland.
• C. n. aliaska: Lives in Alaska and parts of Canada, like Yukon.
• C. n. dioni: Found in Alberta, Canada.
• C. n. streckeri: Lives in parts of Canada (Alberta, British Columbia) and the northern U.S. (Washington, Montana).

See also

In Spanish: Colias ártica blanca para niños