First record of an ‘Alba’ male in the supposed female sex-limited ‘Alba’ polymorphismof Colias croceus (Geoffroy in Fourcroy, 1785) (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)

Abstract

Within the scope of a butterfly survey on Porto Santo (Madeira Archipelago, Portugal), an ‘Alba’ male of Colias croceus was detected and collected. Although older literature sources report occurrences of rare ‘Alba’ colour morphs in males of other Colias species, for example, in C. philodice, recent publications consider the colour polymorphism of C. croceus to be strictly limited to females. The detected ‘Alba’ male of C. croceus will be described. The assumption that the ‘Alba’ polymorphism is based on a simple Mendelian inheritance in which sex determination and colour polymorphism are in complete genetic linkage is doubtful.