cabbage butterfly

Small White
The Small White (Pieris rapae) is a small to mid-sized butterfly species of the Yellows-and-Whites family Pieridae.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera (unranked) Rhopalocera Superfamily: Papilionoidea Family: Pieridae Tribe: Pierini Genus: Pieris Species: P. rapae
Binomial name
Pieris rapae (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Small White (Pieris rapae) is a small to mid-sized butterfly species of the Yellows-and-Whites family Pieridae. It is also commonly known as the Small Cabbage White. The names "Cabbage Butterfly" and "Cabbage White" can also refer to the Large White.

It is widespread across Europe, North Africa and Asia and has also been accidentally introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand where they have become pests on cultivated cabbages and other mustard family crops.

In appearance it looks like a smaller version of the Large White. The upperside is creamy white with black tips to the forewings. Females also have two black spots in the center of the forewings. Its underwings are yellowish with black speckles. It is sometimes mistaken for a moth due to its plain-looking appearance.

Life cycle

It has two flight periods, April–May and July–August.

Its caterpillars can be a pest on cultivated cabbages, but it will readily lay eggs on wild members of the cabbage family such as Charlock Sinapis arvensis and Hedge mustard Sisybrium officinale. The eggs are laid singularly on foodplant leaves.

Known in the United States as "Imported Cabbage Worms", the caterpillars are green and well camouflaged. Unlike the Large White, they don't store the mustard oils from their foodplants and so are not distastful to predators like birds. Like many other "White" butterflies it hibernates as a pupa.

Like its close relative the Large White this is a strong flyer and the British population is increased by continental immigrants in most years. Adults are diurnal and fly almost exclusively during mid-day, though it appears as if there is some activity in the later part of the night too, ceasing as dawn breaks (Fullard & Napoleone 2001).

Gallery

Caterpillar	Pupa, ready to hatch	Pupa, late stage	Copulation refusal action
Butterflies mating	Female	Male

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Pieris rapae

• Asher, Jim et al.: The Millennium Atlas of Britain and Ireland Oxford University Press
• Evans, W.H. (1932): The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed.), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
• Fullard, James H. & Napoleone, Nadia (2001): Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. Animal Behaviour 62(2): 349–368. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 PDF fulltext
• Gaonkar, Harish (1996): "Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (Including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System." Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
• Gay, Thomas; Kehimkar, Isaac & Punetha, J.C. (1992): Common Butterflies of India. WWF-India and Oxford University Press, Mumbai, India.
• Kunte, Krushnamegh (2005): Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press.
• Pieris rapae (TSN 188541). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 6 February 2006.
• Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957): Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.

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