''Colias aquilonaris'' is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family (biology), family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from Afrotropical realm, tropical Africa and Indomalayan realm, tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern ...

found only on the

Chukchi Peninsula The Chukchi Peninsula (also Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula; , ''Chukotskiy poluostrov'', short form , ''Chukotka''), at about 66° N 172° W, is the easternmost peninsula of Asia. Its eastern end is at Cape Dezhnev near the village ...

in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

and along the valleys of the rivers Olenyok and

Yana Yana may refer to: Locations *Yana, Burma, a village in Hkamti Township in Hkamti District in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Burma * Yana, India, a village in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India * Yana, Nigeria, an administrative c ...

(north-eastern Siberia).

Description

Upperside of male golden yellow, with black-brown distal margin, the middle spot small, often almost absent, middle spot of hindwing large and red, costa and fringes of forewing rosy red; underside of forewing golden yellow, lighter at the distal margin, dusted with black, the submarginal spots blackish, small or nearly wanting; hindwing ochre-yellow, dusted with blackish, greenish at base, the double middle spot silvery white, broadly edged with reddish brown. The female above shaded with greenish black at the costa and base of forewing, the broad black-brown distal margin bears small sulphur-yellow spots; hindwing darkened, blackish in middle, the sulphur-yellow submarginal spots small, the middle spot large, golden yellow; the underside olive- or ochre-yellow, middle of forewing light golden yellow, the hindwing sparsely dusted with brownish and greenish scaling

Biology

The butterfly flies in July.

Taxonomy

Subspecies of '' Colias viluiensis'' Menetries, 1859 Tuzov et al., 1997 ''Guide to the butterflies of Russia and adjacent territories''. Volume 1. Pensoft, Sofia - Moscow

References

Butterflies described in 1892 aquilonaris Insects of the Arctic Butterflies of Asia Taxa named by Grigory Grum-Grshimailo {{Pieridae-stub