Butterflies of
Africa
Yellow Splendour
Colotis protomedia
KLUG, 1829
Family - PIERIDAE
subfamily -
PIERINAE
Tribe - COLOTINI
Colotis protomedia,
Ethiopia
©
Peter Bruce-Jones
Introduction
There are about 40 Colotis species, of which
39 are primarily or entirely Afrotropical in
distribution.
Most Colotis butterflies have white
uppersides, with orange or crimson wing tips, but there are a
few exceptions, whose uppersides are predominantly yellow, with
black markings.
Colotis protomedia is a large
species, with a beautiful primrose yellow upperside, bordered
with black. The veins on the forewings are also black, as it the
sub apical bar.
The Yellow
Splendour is distributed from Nigeria to Uganda, Kenya,
Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia and south west Arabia.
Habitats
This species inhabits dry savannah at altitudes between about
800-2000m.
Lifecycle
The larval foodplant is Maerua (
Capparidaceae ).
Adult behaviour
The butterflies are very active, pausing only to nectar
periodically at the flowers of Maerua
bushes.
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