Sulphurs and White Butterflies
The Pieridae family consists of a large number of small to medium size butterflies, characterized by orange, white or yellow wings.
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Identifcation can be difficult for many nature lovers, like us! Many species of Sulphurs are quite similar in size, color, markings and flight characteristics. Plus some interbreed and hybridize which makes identication even more difficult.
The Orange Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur and Southern Dogface all have similar markings, a black spot on the forewing and a white/silver spot with a red ring on the hindwing.
Both the Clouded Sulphur and Orange Sulphur are medium-sized butterflies, with rounded wings; the Clouded Sulphur is a lemon yellow, whlle the Orange sulphur is orange.
The wings on the Dogface are sharply pointed. The forewing is yellow with an outline of the namesake "dog face" on the edge of the wing. A dark spot appears as the dog's eye.
The Cloudless Sulphur is larger than most sulphurs. Males are typically a solid, bright yellow while females are yellow with a black border on the wings and single or double pink-ring around a silver spot in the hindwing center.
Shown below is a comparison chart of commonly seen Sulphur Butterflies.
Featured below are details on several whites and sulphurs. You can click any image to enlarge. We'll get more posted from our archives shortly ... so visit again soon.
Orange Sulphur Size: 1.5" - 2.5" |
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Clouded Sulphur Size: 1.5" - 2.5" |
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Cloudless Sulphur Size: 2.0" - 3.0" |
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Southern Dogface Size: 2.0" - 2.75" |
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Sleepy Orange Size: 1.4" - 2.0" |
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Little Yellow Size: 1" - 1.5" |
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Checkered White Butterfly Size: 1.25" - 2.00" |
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Cabbage White Butterfly Size: 1.25" - 1.75" |
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White-angled Sulphur |
