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Adult

The ventral hindwing marbling of Large Marbles is green tinged with yellow. The marbling occurs in large patches with equally large white areas between them. In females the white of the hindwings is frequently tinged with yellow, while the forewings remain pure white. The black bar at the end of the forewing discal cell always has some white scales mixed in with the black scales (Opler 1970).

Immature Stages

Eggs are light bluish green when laid, turning light orange within a day and then becoming vermilion. Before hatching they become yellowish brown (Opler 1975). Young larvae have black heads, with orange yellow bodies in the first instar, changing to greenish in the second instar. Third to fifth instar larvae are grey green above the spiracles and green below the spiracles, with small black spots allover. There is a yellow green stripe down each side of the back, and a yellow (instars 3 and 4) or white (instar 5) stripe along the side at the spiracles. The head of instar 3 is green black, that of instars 4 and 5 is green grey. Prepupal larvae turn a striking dark purple (Opler 1975). In contrast, in BC the stripe along the sides at the spiracles is white in instars 3 to 5, and the prepupal larva turns brown (CSG). The pupae have a straight elongated head projection (Opler 1975), and are grey brown and covered with fine longitudinal darker streaks (Edwards 1874-84).

Subspecies

Subspecies mayi F.& R. Chermock, 1940 (TL: Riding Mountains, MB) occurs in the Southern Interior, Central Interior, Kootenays, and northeast. The marbling on the ventral hindwings is yellow green with yellow veins. The nominate subspecies (TL: restricted to San Francisco, CA [Opler 1967e]), to which the BC populations have in the past been assigned, occurs only in California. The populations of northwestern BC are subspecies ogilvia Back, 1990 (TL: Ogilvie Mountains, YT). The ventral green marbling is more extensive, darker, and less yellowish than in the nominate subspecies. An undescribed subspecies formerly occurred on southern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and San Juan Island, WA, for which a name is provided here.

Euchloe ausonides insulanus Guppy & Shepard, new subspecies. Euchloe ausonides insulanus is larger and differs in wing pattern from subspecies mayi on the adjacent mainland. The most easily recognized trait is the greatly expanded marbling of the ventral hindwings, which is frequently strongly suffused with yellow scales and hairs. This expansion and yellowing of markings also occurs on the ventral apical and subapical forewing. The dark markings of the dorsal forewing are expanded and the wing bases are heavily suffused with black scaling. Types. Holotype: female, BC, W[ellington]., 3 June [19]04, Rev. [George W.] Taylor; a label "HOLOTYPE / Euchloe ausonides / insulanus Guppy & Shepard" is attached. The holotype is in the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Arthropods, Ottawa, ON, CAN. Paratypes: 1 male, BC, B[eacon]. H[ill]. P[ark]., Vict[oria]., 28 May [18]99, E. A[nderson]. (RBCM); 1 male, BC, J[ames]. Bay Vict[oria]., 17 May [18]98, E. A[nderson]. (RBCM); 1 female, BC, Victoria, 26 May [18]82, (CNC); 1 male, BC, S[outh]. Gabriola I[sland]., 30 May 1908, B.R. Elliott (JHS); 1 male, BC, Vancouver [Island], [1859] 59.7.,25/252, Dr. Lyall. (BMNH); 1 male, BC, Victoria, 25 April [18]85 (CNC); 1 female, BC, Langfords, 27 May [18]98, E. A.[nderson] (RBCM); 1 female, BC, [Beacon Hill Park] Vict[oria]., 17 May [18]98, E. A.[nderson]. (RBCM); 1 female, Be, Victoria, 24 May 1905, J. Fletcher. Barnes Collection (NMNH); 1 male, BC, Victoria, 18 May [18]87 (NMNH); 1 male, [BC], Vic[toria]., 11 May [19]04 (CNC).