Common Butterflies of Sri Lanka

Common Grass Yellow Eurema hecabe
Three Spot Grass Yellow Eurema blanda
S NT S NT
Pieridae
The sexes are alike. The shape of the outer margin is not completely rounded on its
hind wing, nor wavy on its forewing. The upper surface of the butterfly’s forewing has
a broad, black, irregular outer margin and a thin, fairly regular one on its hind wing. Its
underside is variously marked in black. It always has a black mark with a yellow centre
on each cell end. The forewing cell has two other basal black markings. Sometimes
they have a chocolate coloured patch on the apex of the forewing, usually smaller
than that of the Three Spot Grass Yellow.
It always prefers to fly near the ground and around small scrubs, and has not been
observed to open its wings on any occasion when settling. It perches on the underside
of leaves to elude both the hot sun and the rain. This is a migratory species.
This butterfly is commonly found in open vegetation such as grasslands and home
gardens. Although they dislike forests, they can be seen in lit up forest paths with
herbaceous flowers. It is commonly distributed throughout the country, but the
number is quite low in the highest hills.
The sexes are alike. The shape of the outer margin is not completely rounded on its
hind wing and is wavy on fore wing. The irregular black outer margin on the upper
surface of its forewing is slightly different to that of the previous species. The hind wing
has a thin black outer margin. Its underside is usually heavily marked in comparison to
the previous species and its cell end patches are larger and have a yellow area in the
middle. The basal parts of the forewing cell have three black markings. They bare the
chocolate coloured apical patch on the forewing more frequently than the Common
Grass Yellow, and this patch is also larger.
Its behaviour is similar to that of the Common Grass Yellow, except that males are
often found mud puddling. Females lay eggs in large clustres and sometimes it climbs
higher than its usual flying height to lay eggs.
Although this butterfly is found in open vegetation, it requires much wetter conditions.
Hence, it is more widespread in the wet zone. It is more numerous than Common
Grass Yellow along rain forests paths. It is less abundant in the hills.
Pieridae
LFPs: Many plants in the family Fabaceae including Senna alata (we;a f;dar),
Pithecellobium dulce (ueks,d ishU,d) and Senna tora (fm;s f;dar)
LFPs: Various Fabaceae plants including Cassia fistula (weye