Family Pieridae
Caterpillar food: Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) and Cassia sp. ; James Scott also lists Amphicarpa and Desmanthus as host plants. (Desmanthus is adventive in Wisconsin)
Formerly Eurema lisa
Little Yellows are a mid-summer butterfly – they don’t overwinter here, but repopulate every year from farther south. Some summers I don’t see them at all – other years I start seeing them in mid-July. I’ve planted a lot of Partridge Pea on the slope near our house, and that’s where they congregate. They’re difficult to photograph – they always seem to be able to avoid my camera. And they always rest holding their wings closed.
8/18/2019
7/2010
8/25/2003
July 30, 2010 – Little Yellow egg on the petiole of a Partridge Pea leaf. I’ve always found their eggs on top of the petiole, on a fairly young leaf.
Close-up of the egg
It took me a few days to notice that the egg had hatched – the eggs – and the caterpillars – are very small. On August 2, the caterpillar was hanging along the petiole underneath a leaf. There’s a piece of frass stuck to it, and drops of moisture on the hairs on its back.
The caterpillar was 1/2 inch long.
August 5
August 5 – you can see some feeding damage on the leaflets
I missed seeing the pupa – it was well camouflaged. But on August 16, the butterfly hatched
And was released.
Then I found the empty chrysalis.
8/26/2016 At night – found with a UV flashlight
7/18/2016 ovipositing on Partridge Pea
7/30/2010
8/26/2016 at night
9/7/2014
Little Yellow lifecycle – egg laid on 7/30/2010, adult emerged 8/16/2010.
