Our largest sulphur has a wingspan of 1.8 to 2.7 inches. The wings are a bright yellow to pale yellow, often with a greenish tint. The male’s forewings are clear above, while the female has a pinkish spot on each wing. The male’s hindwings below are mostly clear with a couple of pink spots, while the female has several reddish blotches and white spots below. The Cloudless Sulphur lacks the black wing borders of the other sulphurs in our area. The caterpillar grows to 2 inches in length and is variable in color ranging from blue to green and usually has a broad yellow or green spiracular stripe. The upper side of the abdomen has rows of raised black dots. The head is green and also has black dots.
This butterfly is a southern immigrant and usually enters our area in late summer and early fall. Some years it is quite numerous and in others it can be rare or not present. In addition to thistle it prefers to nectar on tubular red or purple flowers.
The caterpillars eat the leaves of Wild Senna, Partridge Pea and closely related plants in the pea/bean family. This species is not hardy enough to survive the winters here.
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