Green-veined White
Encyclopedia
The Green-veined White is a butterfly of the Pieridae
family.
species widespread across Europe
and Asia, including the India
n subcontinent, Japan
and the Maghreb
and North America
(Many authors consider the Mustard White of North America
to be conspecific with napi or consider napi to be a superspecies
). It is found in meadows, hedgerows and woodland glades but not as often in gardens and parks like its close relatives the Large and Small Whites, for which it is often mistaken. Like other "white
" butterflies, the sexes differ. The female has two spots on each forewing, the male only one. The veins on wings of the female are usually more heavily marked. The underside hindwings are pale yellow with the veins highlighted by black scales giving a greenish tint, hence Green-veined White. Unlike these two butterflies it rarely chooses garden cabbage
s to lay its eggs on, preferring wild crucifers
.
The eggs are laid singularly on a wide range of foodplants including Hedge mustard Sisybrium officinale Garlic Mustard
Alliaria petiolata, Cuckooflower Cardamine pratense, Water-cress Rorippa nastutium-aquaticum, Charlock Sinapis arvensis, Large bitter-cress Cardamine amara, wild cabbage
Brassica oleracea and wild Radish
Raphanus raphanistrum and so it is rarely a pest in gardens. The caterpillar is green and well camouflaged. It is often found feeding on the same plant as the Orange Tip but never competes for food because it only feeds on the leaves whereas the Orange Tip caterpillar feeds on the flowers and developing seed pods. Like other Pieris spp. it overwinters as a pupa
.
along with their sperm
. The smell of this compound repels other males, thus ensuring the first male's paternity of the eggs—a form of chemical mate guarding.
The adult male of this species has a distinctive odour that resembles lemon verbena
.
including the West Virginia White Butterfly , the Mustard White and the *Dark-veined White.
For others see Wikispecies.
Pieridae
The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...
family.
Appearance and distribution
A circumborealCircumboreal Region
The Circumboreal Region is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan....
species widespread across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Asia, including the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n subcontinent, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
(Many authors consider the Mustard White of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to be conspecific with napi or consider napi to be a superspecies
Superspecies
A superspecies is a group of at least two more or less distinctive species with approximately parapatric distributions. Not all species complexes, whether cryptices or ring species are superspecies, and vice versa, but many are...
). It is found in meadows, hedgerows and woodland glades but not as often in gardens and parks like its close relatives the Large and Small Whites, for which it is often mistaken. Like other "white
Pieridae
The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...
" butterflies, the sexes differ. The female has two spots on each forewing, the male only one. The veins on wings of the female are usually more heavily marked. The underside hindwings are pale yellow with the veins highlighted by black scales giving a greenish tint, hence Green-veined White. Unlike these two butterflies it rarely chooses garden cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
s to lay its eggs on, preferring wild crucifers
Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae, a medium sized and economically important family of flowering plants , are informally known as the mustards, mustard flowers, the crucifers or the cabbage family....
.
Life cycle and foodplants
Garlic Mustard
Garlic mustard is a biennial flowering plant in the Mustard family, Brassicaceae. It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, and northwestern Africa, from Morocco, Iberia and the British Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and east to northern India and western China...
Alliaria petiolata, Cuckooflower Cardamine pratense, Water-cress Rorippa nastutium-aquaticum, Charlock Sinapis arvensis, Large bitter-cress Cardamine amara, wild cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
Brassica oleracea and wild Radish
Wild radish
Wild Radish or Jointed Charlock, Raphanus raphanistrum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is sometimes claimed to be the ancestor of the edible radish, Raphanus sativus...
Raphanus raphanistrum and so it is rarely a pest in gardens. The caterpillar is green and well camouflaged. It is often found feeding on the same plant as the Orange Tip but never competes for food because it only feeds on the leaves whereas the Orange Tip caterpillar feeds on the flowers and developing seed pods. Like other Pieris spp. it overwinters as a pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
.
Habitat
Pieris napi is found in damp, grassy places with some shade, forest edges, hedgerows, meadows and wooded river valleys. The later generations, widen their catchment areas in the search for alternative forage crops in drier, but flowery places . In the Mediterranean the insect is also found in scrub around mountain streams or springs and on floodplains with Nasturtium officinale. It is found from sea level to high altitude (2500m. in Central Europe centrale, 2600 m in Italy).Flight times
The generations vary with location, altitude and season. In Northern Europe, there are two or three generations from April to early September. In warmer areas, and in some good years there is a fourth generation. In southern Europe there are three or more partially overlapping generations from March to October.Behaviour
Recent research has shown that when males mate with a female, they inject methyl salicylateMethyl salicylate
Methyl salicylate is a natural product of many species of plants. Some of the plants which produce it are called wintergreens, hence the common name.-Botanical background:...
along with their sperm
Sperm
The term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive cells. In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell...
. The smell of this compound repels other males, thus ensuring the first male's paternity of the eggs—a form of chemical mate guarding.
The adult male of this species has a distinctive odour that resembles lemon verbena
Lemon verbena
Aloysia citrodora is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family, Verbenaceae, that is native to Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. Common names include Lemon Verbena and Lemon Beebrush. It was brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 17th...
.
Taxonomy
Some authorities consider Pieris napi to be a superspeciesSuperspecies
A superspecies is a group of at least two more or less distinctive species with approximately parapatric distributions. Not all species complexes, whether cryptices or ring species are superspecies, and vice versa, but many are...
including the West Virginia White Butterfly , the Mustard White and the *Dark-veined White.
Similar species
- Pieris bryoniae
- Pieris erganePieris erganeThe Mountain Small White is a butterfly of the Pieridae family. It is found in Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Transcaucasia....
- Pieris krueperi – Krüpers White
- Pieris napi – Small White
Subspecies
- Pieris napi adalwinda (FruhstorferHans FruhstorferHans Fruhstorfer was a German explorer, insect trader and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He collected and described many new species of exotic butterflies, especially in Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World...
, 1909) FinlandFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... - Pieris napi meridionalis HeyneAlexander HeyneAlexander Heyne was a German entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.He was the son of Ernst Heyne also an entomologist as was Martin Heyne Alexander's brother...
& RühlFritz RühlFritz Rühl, also Roule, was a Swiss entomologist. He was a professional insect collector and insect dealer who worked with the Berlin natural history dealers and publishers Alexander Heyne and Otto Staudinger. His Hymenoptera collections were sold to Paolo Magretti and are conserved in the Museo...
, 1895, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... - Pieris napi segonzaci (le CerfFerdinand Le CerfFerdinand Le Cerf was a French entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.He was a "Préparateur" or technician in the entomological laboratories of Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris....
, 1923) High AtlasHigh AtlasHigh Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas Mountains is a mountain range in central Morocco in Northern Africa.The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border. At the Atlantic and to the southwest the range drops abruptly... - Pieris napi maura (VerityRuggero VerityRuggero Verity was an Italian entomologist who specialised in butterflies.Verity was born in Florence on 20 May 1883, the elder son of Richard Henry Manners Verity and his wife Matilda daughter of Cav. Sebastiano Fenzi and Emily Verity...
, 1911) Glacières de Blida, AlgeriaAlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab... - Pieris napi atlantis (OberthürFrançois-Charles OberthürFrançois-Charles Oberthür was the founder of the French printing group Imprimerie Oberthur . In Strasbourg, François-Charles, an engraver, ran a printing press, with Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography. He moved to Rennes in 1838, qualified as a lithographer in 1842 and then founded a...
, 1923) AzrouAzrouAzrou is a small Moroccan city 89 kilometers south of Fez, in the Meknès-Tafilalet region.-Geography:Azrou, which means rock in the indigenous Tamazight Berber language, is located in the heart of The Middle Atlas region of Morocco between Meknes, Fez, Ifrane, Midelt and Khenifra. The N13 road...
, Middle AtlasMiddle AtlasThe Middle Atlas is part of the Atlas mountain range lying in Morocco, a mountainous country with more than 100,000 km² or 15% of its landmass rising above 2,000 metres. The Middle Atlas is the northernmost of three Atlas Mountains chains that define a large plateaued basin extending eastward...
, MoroccoMoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... - Pieris napi flavescens (WagnerFritz WagnerFritz Wagner was an Austrian entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.Fritz Wagner was an insect dealer in Vienna from 1902 to 1905 as a partner in the firm Ortner Brothers & Co....
, 1903) MödlingMödlingMödling is the capital of the Austrian district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna.The settlement dates back to the Neolithic. In medieval times, the town was the residence of a branch of the Babenberger family, as a result of which it received the nickname...
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
For others see Wikispecies.
Synonyms
- Pieris adalwinda FruhstorferHans FruhstorferHans Fruhstorfer was a German explorer, insect trader and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He collected and described many new species of exotic butterflies, especially in Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World...
, 1909 - Pieris arctica VerityRuggero VerityRuggero Verity was an Italian entomologist who specialised in butterflies.Verity was born in Florence on 20 May 1883, the elder son of Richard Henry Manners Verity and his wife Matilda daughter of Cav. Sebastiano Fenzi and Emily Verity...
, 1911 - Pieris canidiaformis DrenowskyAlexander Kirilow DrenowskiAlexander Kirilow Drenowski was a Bulgarian entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.Between 1904 and 1953 Drenowski wrote 77 scientific papers on the butterflies of Bulgaria.His most significant work was on the butterflies of the Bulgarian high mountains Rila , Pirin , Rhodope and Stara...
, 1910 - Pieris dubiosa RöberJulius RöberJulius Röber was a German entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.Röber lived in Dresden.He described many new species and genera .-Works:*Parts of Staudinger, O., and Schatz, E...
, 1907 - Pieris flavescens WagnerFritz WagnerFritz Wagner was an Austrian entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.Fritz Wagner was an insect dealer in Vienna from 1902 to 1905 as a partner in the firm Ortner Brothers & Co....
, 1903 - Pieris meridionalis HeyneAlexander HeyneAlexander Heyne was a German entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.He was the son of Ernst Heyne also an entomologist as was Martin Heyne Alexander's brother...
, 1895
See also
- Dark-veined White
- Mustard White
- List of butterflies of India (Pieridae)
- List of butterflies of Great Britain
- Species problemSpecies problemThe species problem or species concept is a mixture of difficult, related questions that often come up when biologists identify species and when they define the word "species"....
Further reading
- Asher, Jim et al. The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland Oxford university Press
- Bowden, S. R.; & Riley, Norman Denbigh (1967): The type-material of Pieris napi pseudorapae Verity. Redia 50, pp. [379-380]
- Bowden, S. R. (Aug 68) Pieris napi in Calabria. Entomologist 101, pp. [180-190]
- Bowden, S. R. (Oct 1970) Polymorphism in Pieris: f. sulphurea in Pieris napi marginalis. Entomologist 103, pp. [241-249]
- Bowden, S. R. (1954) Pieris napi L. f. hibernica Schmidt, eine kuenstliche Aberration? Der gegenwaertige Stand der Frage. Mitt. ent. Ges. Basel (nf)4, pp. [9-15, 17-22]
- Bowden, S. R. (1956) Hybrids within the European Pieris napi L. species-group. Proc. Trans. S. Lond. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 1954-55, pp. [135-159]
- Bowden, S. R. (1961) Pieris napi L. ab. sulphurea Schoeyen Entomologist 94, pp. [221-226]
- Bowden, S. R. (1962) Übertragung von Pieris napi-Genen auf Pieris bryoniae durch wiederholte Ruckkreuzung. Z. Arbgem. Öst. Ent. 14, pp.
- Bowden, S. R. (1966a) Polymorphism in Pieris Entomologist 99, pp. [174-182]
- Bowden, S. R. (1966b) 'Irregular' diapause in Pieris, with a note on Corsican Pieris brassicae L. Proc. Trans. S. Lond. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 1966, pp. [67-68]
- Bowden, S. R. (1966c) Pieris napi in Corsica. Entomologist 99, pp. 57–68
- Bowden, S. R. (1970a) What is Pieris dubiosa Warren? Ent. Rec. 82, pp.
- Bowden, S. R. (1970b) Pieris napi L.: speciation and subspeciation. Proc. Trans. Br. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 3, pp. [63-70]
- Bowden, S. R. (1971) 'Pieris napi' in America: reconnaissance. Proc. Trans. Br. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 4, pp. 71–77
- Bowden, S. R. (1972) 'Pieris napi' in America: genetic imbalance in hybrids. Proc. Trans. Br. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 4, pp. [103-117]
- Bowden, S. R. (1975a) Some subspecific and infrasubspecific names in Pieris napi L. Ent. Rec. 87, pp. [153-156]
- Bowden, S. R. (1975b) Relation of Pieris melete Menetries to Pieris napi L.: ssp. melete. Proc. Trans. Br. ent. nat. Hist. Soc. 7, pp. [97-102]
- Bowden, S. R. (1979)Subspecific Variation in Butterflies: Adaptation and Dissected Polymorphism in Pieris (Artogeia) (Pieridae). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 33(2), pp. [77-111, 40 f
- Bowden, S. R. : Sexual mosaics in Pieris. Lep. News 12(1-2), pp. [7-13, 1 tbl, 1 f]
- Bowden, S. R. : Pieris napi L. (Pieridae) and the Superspecies Concept. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 26(3), pp. 170–173
- Bowden, S. R. (1985): Taxonomy for a variable butterfly? [Pieris napi]. Ent. Gaz. 36(2), pp. [85-90]
- Carter, David, 1993 Farfalle e falene Fabbri Editori
- Chew, F.S and Watt, W.B 2006 The green-veined white (Pieris napiL.), its Pierine relatives, and the systematics dilemmas of divergent character sets (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)Biological Journal of the Linnean Society2006,, 413–435. http://ase.tufts.edu/biology/faculty/chew/ChewWatt06-2.pdf
- Chinery, Michael, 1987 Guida degli insetti d'Europa Franco Muzzio Editore
- Chinery, Michael, 1989 Farfalle d'Italia e d'Europa De Agostini/Collins
- Chou Io (Ed.) Monographia Rhopalocerum Sinensium, 1-2
- Dyar, 1903 A List of North American Lepidoptera and Key to the Literature of this Order of Insects Bull. U.S. natn. Mus., 52: xix, 723pp
- Edwards, 1869 Descriptions of new species of diurnal Lepidoptera found within the United States Trans. amer. ent. Soc. 2: 369-376
- Eitschberger, 1983 Eitschberger, 1984; Systematische Untersuchungen am Pieris napi-bryoniae-Komplex (s.l.) Herbipoliana 1 (1-2): (1) i-xxii, 1-504, (2) 1-601
- Eitschberger, 2001 Eine neue Unterart von Pieris napi (Linnaeus, 1758) vom Polar Ural Atalanta 32 (1/2): 85-88
- Fruhstorfer, 1909 Neue palaearktische Pieriden Int. ent. Zs. 3 (16): 88 (17 July)
- Hensle, 2001 Zur Frage der subspezifischen Zuordnung von Pieris bryoniae lappona Rangnow, 1935 Atalanta 32 (1/2): 89-95
- Hodges, Ronald W. (ed.), 1983 Check List of the Lepidoptera of America North of Mexico
- Korshunov, Y.P.Yuri Petrovich KorshunovYuri Petrovich Korshunov was a Russian entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.Korshunov was a scientific worker of the Zoological Museum in the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals ....
and Gorbunov, P.Y., 1995 The Butterflies (Rhopalocera) of the Asian part of Russia'Pensoft Digital version in English - Lamas Gerardo, 2004 Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera; Checklist: Part 4A; Hesperioidea Papilionoidea
- Leraut, Patrice, 1992 Le farfalle nei loro ambienti Ed. A. Vallardi (ecoguide)
- Linnaeus, 1758 Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Symonymis, Locis. Tomis I. 10th Edition Syst. Nat. (Edn 10) 1
- Lorkovic, Zdravko 1968 Karyologischer Beitrag zur Frage der Fortpflanzungs verhaltnisse Sudeuropäischer Taxone von Pieris napi (L.). (Lep. Pieridae). Biol. Glasn. 21, pp. 95–136
- Mazzei Paolo, Reggianti Diego and Pimpinelli Ilaria Moths and Butteflies of Europe
- Pyle, R. M. National Audubon Society: Field Guide to North American Butterflie1981; ISBN 0-394-51914-0
- Scott, J. A. 1986 The butterflies of North America: a natural history and field guide. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California
- Seppänen, E. J, 1970 Suomen suurperhostoukkien ravintokasvit, Animalia Fennica 14
- Tennent, John, 1996 The butterflies of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia; ISBN 0-906802-05-9
- Tuzov, Bogdanov, Devyatkin, Kaabak, Korolev, Murzin, Samodurov, Tarasov, 1997 Guide to the Butterflies of Russia and adjacent territories; Hesperiidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Satyridae; Volume 1
- Verity, 1908; Verity, [1909]; Verity, 1911; Rhopalocera Palaearctica Iconographie et Description des Papillons diurnes de la région paléarctique. Papilionidae et Pieridae Rhopalocera Palaearctica 1: 86+368pp, 2+12+72pls
- Wynter-Blyth, M. A., 1957 Butterflies of the Indian Region; (1982 Reprint)
External links
- Pieridae Holarctinae Photos of imagos and la
- www.schmetterling-raupe.de
- Mario Meier - Europäische Schmetterlinge
- www.eurobutterflies.com
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa
- Naturkundliches Informationssystem: Pieris napi napi (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Naturkundliches Informationssystem: Pieris napi flavescens F.Wagner, 1903