LEPIDOPTERA
PIERIDAE Duponchel,1835
COLIAS Fabricius,1807
Colias thisoa Menetries, 1832
Colias thisoa thisoa Menetries, 1832
• RANGE . Mountains of the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, M. Asia, S. Siberia, Turkey, Iran.
• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The nominate subspecies (= eos Herrich-Schaffer, 1852) lives in the Caucasus Major. Several other subspecies are known as well: ssp. strandiana Sheljuzhko, 1935 - the Caucasus Minor, the Armenian Highland; ssp. shakuhensis Sheljuzhko, 1935 - Talysh, Kopet-Dagh; ssp. aeolides Grum-Grshimailo, 1890 - N. and Inner Tian-Shan (west), Ghissar, Darvaz, Alai, Dzhungarsky Alatau, Saur, Tarbagatai; ssp. urumtsiensis Verity, 1909 - central Tian-Shan. Populations from the Altai and Sayan probably represent a distinct subspecies.
• HABITAT AND BIOLOGY. Well humid mountain meadows in the forest belt at 1,500-3,400 m a.s.l. Host plants (Nekrutenko, 1990): Astragalus spp.
Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997