| Pieris (Whites) | |
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| Small White (Pieris rapae) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| (unranked): | Rhopalocera |
| Superfamily: | Papilionoidea |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Subfamily: | Pierinae |
| Tribe: | Pierini |
| Genus: | Pieris (Schrank, 1801) |
| Species | |
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See text |
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Pieris, the whites or garden whites, is a widespread genus of butterflies of the family Pieridae. Many species of this genus have caterpillars which feed on cabbage and other members of the Brassicaceae. The chemical basis of this association with a certain plant group has been studied for over 100 years, and is now known to occur via a number of biochemical adaptations to chemicals called glucosinolates in these plants. In contrast to most other insects, Pieris caterpillars are able to detoxify these chemicals, and have become so specialised that they will not eat any food without glucosinolates. The Pieris females, in turn, check for the presence of glucosinolates before laying eggs on a plant. The crop-damaging species have spread from Eurasia to most of the rest of the world and are considered pest insects almost everywhere.
The females of many Pieris butterflies are UV reflecting, while the male wings are strongly UV absorbing due to pigments in the scales.
Species and notable subspecies[1]
- Pieris ajaka (Moore, 1865)
- Pieris angelika (Eitschberger, 1983) -- Arctic White
- Pieris balcana (Lorkovic, 1970)
- Pieris bowdeni (Eitschberger, 1984))
- Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus, 1758) -- Large (Cabbage) White
- Pieris brassicoides (Guérin-Méneville, 1849)
- Pieris bryoniae (Hübner, 1790-1793) -- Dark-veined White
- Pieris canidia (Linnaeus, 1768) -- Indian Cabbage White
- Pieris cheiranthi (Hübner, 1808)
- Pieris davidis (Oberthür, 1876)
- Pieris deota (Nicéville, 1884) -- Kashmir White
- Pieris dubernardi (Oberthür, 1884)
- Pieris dulcinea (Butler, 1882)
- Pieris ergane (Geyer, 1828) -- Mountain Small White
- Pieris erutae (Poujade, 1888)
- Pieris euorientis (Verity, 1908)
- Pieris extensa (Poujade, 1888)
- Pieris krueperi (Staudinger, 1860) -- Krueper's Small White
- Pieris mahometana (Grum-Grshimailo, 1888)
- Pieris mannii (Mayer, 1851) -- Southern Small White
- Pieris marginalis (Scudder, 1861) -- Margined White
- Pieris melete (Ménétriés, 1857)
- Pieris naganum (Moore, 1884) -- Naga White
- Pieris napi Linnaeus, 1758) -- Green-veined White or Veined White
- Pieris narina (Verity, 1908)
- Pieris nesis (Fruhstorfer, 1909)
- Pieris ochsenheimeri (Staudinger, 1886)
- Pieris oleraca (Harris, 1829) -- Mustard White
- Pieris persis (Verity, 1922)
- Pieris pseudorapae (Verity, 1908)
- Pieris rapae (Linnaeus, 1758) -- Small White or (Small) Cabbage White
- Pieris tadjika (Grum-Grshimailo, 1888)
- Pieris virginiensis (Edwards, 1870) -- West Virginia White
References
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