Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)
Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)
Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)
Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)
Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)
Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)

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Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)


Photo © Chris van Swaay
FamilyPieridae
SubfamilyColiadinae
GenusColias
Speciescrocea
Authority(Geoffroy, 1785)
English NameClouded Yellow
European Red List 2010Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 Red List 2010Least Concern (LC)
European Red List 2025Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 Red List 2025Least Concern (LC)
Habitats Directive
Bern Convention
CITES

Description

In good summers, the Clouded Yellow is a very fast flyer and can be seen practically over the whole of Europe, often on fields of clover or lucerne, or other flower-rich vegetations. It lays its eggs one by one, on the leaves of such leguminous plants as Lucerne (Medicago sativa), clovers (Trifolium spp.), and vetches (Vicia spp.). It pupates, suspended in a silken girdle on the foodplant. In the south, it usually passes the winter as a caterpillar. In the north, because it cannot tolerate the cold, it only appears as a summer migrant, recolonizing from the south. This species has four to six broods a year.

Distribution

Albania / Andorra / Austria (Regular Migrant) / Belarus (Irregular Vagrant) / Belgium (Regular Migrant) / Belgium: Flanders (Regular Migrant) / Belgium: Wallonia (Regular Migrant) / Bosnia and Herzegovina (Regular Migrant) / Bulgaria / Croatia / Cyprus / Czechia (Regular Migrant) / Denmark (Regular Migrant) / Estonia (Irregular Vagrant) / Finland (Irregular Vagrant) / France / France: Mainland / France: Corsica / Germany (Regular Migrant) / Greece / Greece: Mainland / Greece: East Aegean Islands / Greece: Kirti (Crete) / Holy See (Vatican City State) / Hungary (Regular Migrant) / Ireland (Regular Migrant) / Italy / Italy: Mainland / Italy: Sardinia / Italy: Sicily / Latvia (Regular Migrant) / Liechtenstein (Regular Migrant) / Lithuania (Irregular Vagrant) / Luxembourg (Regular Migrant) / Monaco / North Macedonia / Malta / Moldova / Montenegro / Netherlands (Regular Migrant) / Norway (Irregular Vagrant) / Poland (Regular Migrant) / Portugal / Portugal: Mainland / Portugal: Azores / Portugal: Madeira Islands / Romania / European Russia / San Marino / Serbia / Serbia: Serbia / Serbia: Kosovo / Slovakia (Regular Migrant) / Slovenia / Spain / Spain: Mainland / Spain: Canary Islands / Spain: Balearic Islands / Spain: Sp. North African Territories / Sweden (Irregular Vagrant) / Switzerland (Regular Migrant) / European Türkiye / Ukraine / United Kingdom (Regular Migrant) / United Kingdom: Great Britain (Regular Migrant) / United Kingdom: Northern Ireland (Regular Migrant) / United Kingdom: Isle of Man (Regular Migrant) / United Kingdom: Guernsey (Regular Migrant) / United Kingdom: Jersey (Regular Migrant) / United Kingdom: Gibraltar /

Larval Foodplants

#OrderFamilyGenusSpeciesVernacular NameLink
1FabalesFabaceaeAstragalusangustifolius
2FabalesFabaceaeAstragaluscylleneus
3FabalesFabaceaeAstragalusdepressus
4FabalesFabaceaeAstragalusglycyphyllosWild Liquorice
5FabalesFabaceaeAstragalusmonspessulanus
6FabalesFabaceaeColuteaarborescensBladder-senna
7FabalesFabaceaeCoronillavaria
8FabalesFabaceaeDorycnopsisgerardi
9FabalesFabaceaeErophacabaetica
10FabalesFabaceaeErophacabaetica ssp. orientalis
11FabalesFabaceaeErythrostemongilliesii
12FabalesFabaceaeHippocrepiscomosaHorseshoe Vetch
13FabalesFabaceaeHippocrepisglauca
14FabalesFabaceaeHippocrepismultisiliquosa
15FabalesFabaceaeLotusBird's-foot-trefoils
16FabalesFabaceaeLotusangustissimusSlender Bird's-foot-trefoil
17FabalesFabaceaeLotuscorniculatusCommon Bird's-foot-trefoil
18FabalesFabaceaeLotusdorycnium
19FabalesFabaceaeLotuspedunculatusGreater Bird's-foot-trefoil
20FabalesFabaceaeMedicagoMedicks
21FabalesFabaceaeMedicagocoronata
22FabalesFabaceaeMedicagofalcata
23FabalesFabaceaeMedicagolupulinaBlack Medick
24FabalesFabaceaeMedicagomarina
25FabalesFabaceaeMedicagominimaBur Medick
26FabalesFabaceaeMedicagoorbicularis
27FabalesFabaceaeMedicagopolymorphaToothed Medick
28FabalesFabaceaeMedicagopraecoxEarly Medick
29FabalesFabaceaeMedicagorigidula
30FabalesFabaceaeMedicagosativaLucerne (see ssp.)
31FabalesFabaceaeMedicagotruncatulaStrong-spined Medick
32FabalesFabaceaeMelilotusMelilots
33FabalesFabaceaeMelilotusindicusSmall Melilot
34FabalesFabaceaeMelilotusneapolitanus
35FabalesFabaceaeMelilotusofficinalisRibbed Melilot
36FabalesFabaceaeOnobrychisSainfoin
37FabalesFabaceaeOnobrychisalba
38FabalesFabaceaeOnobrychisebenoides
39FabalesFabaceaeOnobrychismontana
40FabalesFabaceaeOnobrychissupina
41FabalesFabaceaeOnonisspinosa ssp. procurrens
42FabalesFabaceaeRobiniapseudoacaciaFalse-acacia
43FabalesFabaceaeTrifoliumClovers
44FabalesFabaceaeTrifoliumdubiumLesser Trefoil
45FabalesFabaceaeTrifoliumphysodes
46FabalesFabaceaeTrifoliumpratenseRed Clover
47FabalesFabaceaeTrifoliumrepensWhite Clover
48FabalesFabaceaeViciasativaCommon Vetch
49FabalesFabaceaeViciavillosaFodder Vetch