Eurema smilax (Small Grass-yellow)

Synonyms

Terias smilax

Other Common Names

Bordered Sulphur, Australian Yellow Butterfly

Notes

I’ve never found this butterfly to be as common as the books might suggest, but whilst I don’t ever see them in large numbers they can turn up just about anywhere in Australia, so I have bumped into a few of them over the years. As with other Grass-yellows, and most Pierids in general, they’re not big on settling for photos, so other than in overcast weather they can be very difficult to photograph.

In September 2004 I was lucky enough to find a very strongly-marked dry-season form. It’s quite hard to believe that this is the same species as the wet-season form, which is almost completely yellow on the underside.

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