Size: 1.5 - 2.0 inches wingspan

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Key ID features:  Male above, solid black wing borders. Female above, smudgy FW border, can be either pale yellow or white.  Below, HW yellow, with little or no black scaling, and discal spot single-rimmed with no satellite. Usually with bright pink wing fringes. Flight pattern is more relaxed than other sulphurs. Perhaps the most important clue for ID is the pattern of dark over-scaling on the ventral hindwing:  often light overall and more dense toward the thorax and gradually fading out past the discal spot.

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Similar species:  Other similar sulphur species in Oregon lack the gradual decrease in the density of overscaling on the dorsal hindwing (see above). Clouded Sulphurs have double ring around discal spot on HW below. Western Sulphurs greenish on HW below. Queen Alexandra's Sulphurs are larger, have more pointed wings, heavier black overscaling below with a strong greenish cast, and lighter pink wing borders.

 

Host plant: Various species of Vaccinium (huckleberry).​

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Habitat: Mid-elevation forest clearings, meadows marshes and heathlands.

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Range: Central OR Cascades and Blue Mountains.

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Season: Early June to mid-September

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Abundance: Uncommon

 

Conservation Status: Secure