Bug FAQClouded Sulphur
Colias philodice · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Pieridae
Also called: Common Sulphur, Clouded sulfur
The clouded sulphur is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of about 3 to 5 cm (32 to 54 mm). Males have plain yellow wing edges, while females show small yellow spots along the borders, and both sexes are pale yellow above without orange markings. It lives in open areas such as fields, lawns, meadows and roadsides across most of North America, except the far north-eastern provinces.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Both sexes are pale yellow on the upper side with no orange, unlike the orange sulphur. Males have clean wing borders; females have yellow dots in the border area.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Wingspan ranges from 32 to 54 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults sip nectar from many flowers, including milkweed, butterfly bush, coneflower, alfalfa, dandelion, clover and tall verbena. Caterpillars feed on plants such as ground-plum, Platte River milk-vetch, soybean, deer vetch, alfalfa, white sweet clover, self-heal, black locust, white and red clover, and various vetches.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females lay single pale yellow eggs on host plants. The green chrysalis hangs upright by a silk girdle.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Occurs throughout most of North America, but not in Labrador, Nunavut, or northern Quebec.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Can be mistaken for other white Colias species, especially Colias eurytheme (orange sulphur).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 50 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Vermont, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Illinois, Iowa.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Pieridae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colias_philodice
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.