Clouded yellow butterfly
Colias croceus (Geoffroy, 1785)
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
The clouded yellow butterfly (Colias croceus) is an insect in the butterflies and moths subgroup, placed in the family Pieridae and the genus Colias. It belongs to the order Lepidoptera and the superfamily Papilionoidea, within the class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda and kingdom Animalia.
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Quick facts about the clouded yellow butterfly
Its other English names are Clouded yellow and Common clouded yellow, and its scientific name carries the authority (Geoffroy, 1785). The Catalogue of Life lists it as a living species, not extinct.
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 4 cm – 5.2 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Nectarivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- flowerssrc for Main food
- Habitat
- grassland, human_modified, shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- On the wing
- March to Novembersrc for On the wing
- Generations a year
- Severalsrc for Generations a year
- Larval food plants
- Fabaceae familysrc for Larval food plants
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the clouded yellow butterfly?
Photos of the clouded yellow butterfly
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
_male.jpg){kind=link}
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_female_underside.jpg){kind=link}
Where does the clouded yellow butterfly live?
Not recorded
What is the clouded yellow butterfly?
Colias croceus, the clouded yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, the yellows and whites.
From the Wikipedia article “Colias croceus” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colias_croceus&oldid=1379697913), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the clouded yellow butterfly endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the clouded yellow butterfly classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyPieridae
- genusColias
- SpeciesColias croceus (Geoffroy, 1785)
Synonyms Colias croceus, Colias edusa, Colias edusa helicina, Colias edusa pyrenaica, Papilio croceus, Papilio croceus
Other names and names in other languages (21)
- Clouded yellowEnglish
- Clouded yellowEnglish
- Common clouded yellowEnglish
- Melenig lannBreton
- LlwydfelynWelsh
- LlwydfelynionWelsh
- orange høsommerfuglDanish
- PostillonGerman
- Orangeroter KleefalterGerman
- Wander-GelblingGerman
- EtelänkeltaperhonenFinnish
- Le SouciFrench
- Souci (Le)French
- dealan-dè buidhe na seamraigScottish Gaelic
- dealain-dè buidhe na seamraigScottish Gaelic
- vandregulvingeNorwegian Bokmål
- Oranje luzernevlinderDutch
- vandregulvengNorwegian Nynorsk
- Szlaczkon sylwetnikPolish
- SaffransfjärilSwedish
- Rödgul höfjärilSwedish
Relatives of the clouded yellow butterfly
Other species in the same genus Colias.
Pale cloudedyyellow
Colias hyale
Berger's clouded yellow
Colias alfacariensis
Pale Arctic clouded yellow
Colias palaeno
Danube clouded yellow
Colias myrmidone
Eastern pale clouded yellow
Colias erate
Mountain clouded yellow
Colias phicomone
CompareClouded yellow butterfly vs Pale cloudedyyellowClouded yellow butterfly vs Berger's clouded yellowClouded yellow butterfly vs Pale Arctic clouded yellowClouded yellow butterfly vs Danube clouded yellow
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the clouded yellow butterfly?
The clouded yellow butterfly is an insect in the butterflies and moths subgroup. It belongs to the order Lepidoptera and the family Pieridae.
What is the scientific name of the clouded yellow butterfly?
Its scientific name is Colias croceus, in the genus Colias.
Who named Colias croceus and when?
The scientific name Colias croceus carries the authority (Geoffroy, 1785).
What other names does the clouded yellow butterfly have?
It is also called the Clouded yellow and the Common clouded yellow.
What family does the clouded yellow butterfly belong to?
It belongs to the family Pieridae, in the superfamily Papilionoidea.
Is the clouded yellow butterfly extinct?
No. The Catalogue of Life lists the clouded yellow butterfly as living, not extinct.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Clouded yellow butterfly (Colias croceus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/clouded-yellow-butterfly
“Clouded yellow butterfly (Colias croceus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/clouded-yellow-butterfly.
@misc{clouded_yellow_butterfly_2026,
title = {Clouded yellow butterfly (Colias croceus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/clouded-yellow-butterfly},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}