Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Zerene - Dogfaces

California Dogface, Colias eurydice - Zerene eurydice - female Dogface Butterfly - Zerene eurydice - male Southern Dogface - Zerene cesonia - male Clouded or Orange - Zerene cesonia Butterfly ID - Zerene cesonia Florida October - Zerene cesonia Southern Dogface - Zerene cesonia - male Is this a southern dogface? - Zerene cesonia
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Pieridae (Whites, Sulphurs, Yellows)
Subfamily Coliadinae (Sulphurs and Yellows)
Genus Zerene (Dogfaces)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
formerly included in the genus Colias
Numbers
2 species in North America, the Southern Dogface (Z. cesonia) and the California Dogface (Z. eurydice)
Identification
pattern of the upper forewing resembles a yellow "dog face" bordered by black, with a black circle forming the eye
Range
resident in California, Texas, and Florida; regular migrant across southern two-thirds of United States, with occasional strays recorded as far north as central Canada and the Great Lakes
Habitat
open areas such as roadsides and pastures
Food
larvae feed on legumes
Internet References
live adult images of Z. cesonia (Jeffrey Pippen, Texas, courtesy of Duke U.)
pinned adult images plus other info on Z. eurydice (nearctica.com)