Colias lesbia is a butterfly in the Pieridae family. It is found in the Neotropical ecozone.
Specimens from south Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina differ so little that they cannot be separated. This form is in the male dark orange yellow, specimens with violet reflections are not rare; the black-brown distal margin is not sharply defined proximally. The under surface with the exception of the reddish middle of the forewing is vivid yellow with the usual Colias marking. The ground colour of the upper surface in the females is very variable: orange yellow, yellow, yellowish or white with grey dusting; greenish-grey specimens also occur.
Flies from November to January.
C. l. lesbia (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay)
C. l. andina Staudinger, 1894 (Bolivia) from 3000–4000 metres asl, sprinkled with blackish
C. l. dinora Kirby, 1881 (Ecuador, Colombia) 4000 —5,500 metres asl orange-yellow, with washed-out, moderately broad dark distal margin to the forewing; the hindwing has a submarginal row of small, dark, inconspicuous spots. The under surface on the forewing is somewhat lighter, on the hindwing somewhat darker than the upper, the median spot is white, small and margined with reddish. The female has lemon-yellow ground colour and yellow spots in the dark distal margin of the forewing.
C. l. mineira Zikán, 1940 (Brazil (Minas Gerais))
C. l. vauthierii Guérin-Méneville, [1830] (Chile, Argentina) is in the male above orange red with broad black-brown margin and median spot of the same colour on the forewing, the black-brown margin of the hindwing is much narrower and is suddenly reduced towards the inner angle; the hindwing has a smaller, indistinct dark median spot. The under surface of the forewing is orange red, at the margins and particularly at the apex yellowish, and has a black median spot and a submarginal row of black spots, which are larger posteriorly. The under surface of the hindwing is yellow, slightly orange in the middle, the reddish median spot has a light centre, a reddish diffuse spot is placed at the base of the wing and in addition there is a row of small reddish submarginal spots; the inner margin is greenish. The female has above yellowish white ground colour, broader dark distal margins on both wings and light submarginal spots. The ground colour of the underside of the forewing is impure white, of the hindwing yellowish.
C. l. verhulsti Berger, 1983 (Peru)
It was accepted as a species by Josef Grieshuber and Gerardo Lamas.
Charles Darwin observed a large swarm of these butterflies in Patagonia.
