Tim writes: Clouded Yellows (Colias crocea) have a small proportion of females that have a white ground colour instead of yellow, and this form is known as helice. This is one such female but there is a problem, as this isn’t a Clouded Yellow. This is an African Clouded Yellow (Colias electo) photographed in Ethiopia where Clouded Yellow does not occur. But this is a white female form, and all the other female African Clouded Yellows I saw were typical yellow-coloured. If this was a Clouded Yellow the form would be helice, but as this is an African Clouded Yellow it must have a different name. But I cannot find any reference to it on the internet. Can anyone help?
Taken with Nikon D500 and Nikkor 300mm f4 lens with a 1.4x converter at f5.6 ISO 100 1/1250s
The photograph below shows a courting pair of African Clouded Yellows, with the typical yellow-coloured female on the left. The female differs from the male in having spots in the wing border.
This was taken with a Nikon D500 with a 300mm f4 lens at f5.6 and a 1.4x converter 1/5000 at ISO 1600
[registration_form]
This is Colias electo and the subspecies found in Ethiopia is ssp. meneliki, which has a female form of f. bafanae. So it could be Colias electo meneliki f. bafanae 🙂
Pete – many thanks indeed.