Loading this page…
Return homePlease wait while the next page arrives.
Luminary Oddities · Natural history & art
Catopsilia pomona
Lepidoptera / Pieridae
Catopsilia pomona, the lemon emigrant, has pale cream and yellow wings. Indian studies document larval hosts, seasonal survival and pre-monsoon dispersal associated with reproductive investment.
Read the species account
The documented museum male from Soemba has cream wing fields, strong yellow at the wing bases and a narrow brown forewing apical edge. [5]
The Tripura life-table study followed developmental survival in field and semi-natural conditions. Survival was highest in the wet, hot season, and the analysis identified egg mortality and abiotic conditions as important influences on the studied population. [3]
ICAR lists Cassia fistula and Senna siamea as larval hosts. Caterpillars consume the foliage of these plants. [2]
In the southern Indian movement study, dispersal groups were observed before the summer monsoon, principally from March to June. Adults briefly visited nectar flowers and mud-puddling sites before resuming directional flight. [4]
Dispersing females in the study carried more mature eggs and had a lower thorax-to-abdomen mass ratio than non-dispersing females. These measured differences associate dispersal with greater reproductive investment in the sampled butterflies. [4]
The study interprets the southern Indian movement as resource-driven dispersal in a landscape with seasonally changing host foliage. This interpretation is consistent with the observed directional flights and reproductive condition of dispersing females. [4]
Papilio pomona is an older genus combination for the butterfly now named Catopsilia pomona. [1]
The paired Naturalis photographs show the upper- and undersides of specimen ZMA.INS.5170029, a male labelled from Soemba. [5]
Broad cream and yellow fields, fine veins and restrained dark borders structure the composition.
Display the closed frame in indirect light, away from heat and persistent damp. Handle its enclosure rather than the specimen, and avoid contact with fragile wings.
Which plants feed the caterpillars? ICAR records Cassia fistula and Senna siamea as larval hosts. [2]
What did the movement study find? In its southern Indian sample, dispersing females carried more mature eggs and invested relatively less mass in the thorax than non-dispersing females. [4]
ICAR documents larval plants and classification. The Tripura life-table paper examines seasonal survival, the dispersal paper compares movement with flight morphology and reproductive condition, and Naturalis supplies paired specimen photographs. [2][3][4][5]
University of Florida BioCosmos · Accessed 2026-10-09
ICAR National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources · Accessed 2026-10-09
S. R. Choudhury and B. K. Agarwala; Journal of Research in Biology 3(3):876–885 (2013) · Accessed 2026-10-09
Vaishali Bhaumik and Krushnamegh Kunte; Biology Letters 16:20200393 (2020), PubMed Central · Accessed 2026-10-09
Naturalis Biodiversity Center · Accessed 2026-10-09
Sources checked 2026-10-09. Illustrations · Luminary Oddities.
Return to the Entomological Atlas ↑