Madeiran large white | |
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Madeiran Large White (female) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Pieridae |
Genus: | Pieris |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | P. b. wollastoni |
Trinomial name | |
Pieris brassicae wollastoni (Butler, 1886) | |
Synonyms | |
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The Madeiran large white (Pieris brassicae wollastoni) is a subspecies of the large white butterfly, endemic to Madeira. [2] It was described by the English entomologist, Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1886.
They can reach a size of 55 to 65 millimetres. The wings are pure white with a wide black tip on the apexes of the forewings. Its natural habitat is the laurisilva laurel forest. [3]
Larvae have yellow stripes on the upper part of the green body and has black lumps. Known food plants are nasturtium ( Tropaeolum majus ) and cabbage ( Brassica oleracea ). [4]
Considering that the butterfly was last collected in 1977, and not found since despite a 15-year survey during the 1980s and 1990s, it might be either extremely rare or possibly extinct. [5]
The disappearance of this species coincides with the introduction, in the 1950s, of the small white butterfly (Pieris rapae). The mechanisms involved are not fully understood but a viral infection may be involved with the small white introducing a different strain of the granulosis virus, for which the Madeiran large white had no resistance. [6] Another reason may be the introduction of a widely introduced agricultural bioagent, the wasp parasitoid, Cotesia glomerata , which was found in the western Canary Islands in May 2006. It uses the Pieridae as a host and is commonly found where Pieridae species are in abundance. [7]
Endemic to Madeira and found in the northern valleys of the laurel forest.
The scientific name commemorates Thomas Vernon Wollaston, an English entomologist who has discovered several insect taxa on Madeira.
The green-veined white is a butterfly of the family Pieridae.
The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow, or orange in coloration, often with black spots. The pigments that give the distinct coloring to these butterflies are derived from waste products in the body and are a characteristic of this family. The family was created by William John Swainson in 1820.
Pieris rapae is a small- to medium-sized butterfly species of the whites-and-yellows family Pieridae. It is known in Europe as the small white, in North America as the cabbage white or cabbage butterfly, on several continents as the small cabbage white, and in New Zealand as the white butterfly. The butterfly is recognizable by its white color with small black dots on its wings, and it can be distinguished from P. brassicae by its larger size and the black band at the tip of its forewings.
The trocaz pigeon, Madeira laurel pigeon or long-toed pigeon is a pigeon which is endemic to the island of Madeira, Portugal. It is a mainly grey bird with a pinkish breast; its silvery neck patch and lack of white wing markings distinguish it from its close relative and probable ancestor, the common wood pigeon. Its call is a characteristic six-note cooing, weaker and lower-pitched than that of the wood pigeon. Despite its bulky, long-tailed appearance, this pigeon has a fast, direct flight.
Bolle's pigeon, Bolle's laurel pigeon or dark-tailed laurel pigeon is a species of the genus Columba of family Columbidae, doves and pigeons, endemic to the Canary Islands, Spain. This bird is named after the German naturalist Carl Bolle, who was the first to distinguish it from the laurel pigeon. This wood pigeon is endemic to the laurel forest habitat.
The laurel pigeon or white-tailed laurel pigeon is a species of bird in the Columba genus in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Canary Islands, Spain, and resides in laurel forest habitat. It is the animal symbol of the island of La Gomera.
Pieris brassicae, the large white, also called cabbage butterfly, cabbage white, cabbage moth (erroneously), or in India the large cabbage white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is a close relative of the small white, Pieris rapae.
Pieris, the whites or garden whites, is a widespread now almost cosmopolitan genus of butterflies of the family Pieridae. The highest species diversity is in the Palearctic, with a higher diversity in Europe and eastern North America than the similar and closely related Pontia. The females of many Pieris butterflies are UV reflecting, while the male wings are strongly UV absorbing due to pigments in the scales.
A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two other insect orders, the Diptera and Coleoptera (beetles). Seventeen families in Hymenoptera and a few species of Diptera and Coleoptera are hyperparasitic. Hyperparasitism developed from primary parasitism, which evolved in the Jurassic period in the Hymenoptera. Hyperparasitism intrigues entomologists because of its multidisciplinary relationship to evolution, ecology, behavior, biological control, taxonomy, and mathematical models.
The Pierinae are a large subfamily of pierid butterflies. The subfamily is one of several clades of butterflies often referred to as the whites.
The Madeira firecrest, Madeira kinglet, or Madeiracrest is a very small passerine bird endemic to the island of Madeira. It is a member of the kinglet family. Before it was recognised as a separate species in 2003, it was classified as a subspecies of the common firecrest. It differs in appearance and vocalisations from its relative, and genetic analysis has confirmed it as a different species. The Madeiran bird has green upperparts, whitish underparts and two white wingbars, and a distinctive head pattern with a black eye stripe, short white supercilium, and a crest that is mainly orange in the male and yellow in the female.
Pieris deota, the Kashmir white, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites, which is found in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and central Asia. It is found in the north-western Himalayas in Ladakh at 760 m (2,490 ft) and in Tibet and the Pamirs, at altitudes of 3,700–4,300 m (12,100–14,100 ft).
The Canary Islands large white is a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is endemic to the Canary Islands (Spain).
Ocotea foetens, commonly called til or stinkwood is a species of tree in the family Lauraceae. It is evergreen and grows up to 40 m tall. It is a common constituent of the laurisilva forests of Madeira and the Canary Islands. Leaf fossils of this species are known from the Mio-Pleistocene of Madeira Island.
The Azores wood pigeon, Columba palumbus azorica is an endemic subspecies of the common wood pigeon, located in the Atlantic Azores islands of Portugal. This endemic subspecies is the only live pigeon present in the laurel forest habitat of the Azores Islands.
Cotesia glomerata, the white butterfly parasite, is a small parasitoid wasp belonging to family Braconidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 publication 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Cotesia rubecula is a parasitoid wasp from the large wasp family Braconidae.
The Madeira evergreen forests is a laurissilva ecoregion of southwestern Europe. It covers the archipelago of Madeira and some nearby islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Laurel forest, known as laurissilva, once covered the islands. Over centuries the laurel forests were mostly cleared. Madeira's remaining forests are now protected.