Pieris (butterfly)

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Pieris
Pieris pseudorapae - Yalanci Beyazmelek - False Small White 03.jpg
Pieris pseudorapae , Espiye
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae
Tribe: Pierini
Genus: Pieris
Schrank, 1801
Species

Almost 40, see text

Synonyms
  • MancipiumHübner, [1806]
  • DanausOken, 1815
  • GanorisDalman, 1816
  • AndropodumHübner, 1822
  • TachypteraBerge, 1842
  • ArtogeiaVerity, 1947
  • TalbotiaBernardi, 1958

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.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Ecology

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 (most recently to South America and Africa) and are considered pest insects almost everywhere. There are species of Pieris that are not pests, such as the North American species Pieris oleracea (mustard white) and Pieris virginiensis (Virginia white). These butterflies feed successfully only on specific native vegetation. [1]

Some members of Pieris are threatened by the rapid spread of some plants in the Brassicaceae, such as the way the highly invasive garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) kills the larvae of Pieris oleracea and Pieris virginiensis in North America. Given the large differences between the chemicals that garlic mustard creates versus those of mustards native to North America, it is likely that it is also lethal to other members of Pieris that are native to North America. [1] It is listed as a suitable food plant for the Eurasian Veined white ( Pieris napi ). Having not evolved with garlic mustard, the aforementioned American butterflies lay eggs on it, confusing it with their host plants due to a similar odor. Just because butterflies are members of Pieris does not mean they are all capable of feeding on the same members of Brassicaceae that other members of Pieris can feed on. [2]

Grey-veined white (Pieris melete), Tokyo Pieris melete-suziguroshirochiyou-Dong Jing .JPG
Grey-veined white ( Pieris melete ), Tokyo

Species and notable subspecies

Arranged alphabetically: [3] [4]

Pieris tadjika male (above) and female (below) Pieris tadjika.jpg
Pieris tadjika male (above) and female (below)
Pieris virginiensis Pieris virginiensis WV.jpg
Pieris virginiensis

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brassicaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Brassicaceae or Cruciferae is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leaves are simple, lack stipules, and appear alternately on stems or in rosettes. The inflorescences are terminal and lack bracts. The flowers have four free sepals, four free alternating petals, two shorter free stamens and four longer free stamens. The fruit has seeds in rows, divided by a thin wall.

<i>Brassica</i> Genus of flowering plants in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Brassica is a genus of plants in the cabbage and mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, mustard plants, or simply brassicas. Crops from this genus are sometimes called cole crops—derived from the Latin caulis, denoting the stem or stalk of a plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green-veined white</span> Species of butterfly

The green-veined white is a butterfly of the family Pieridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieridae</span> Butterfly family in superfamily Papilionoidea

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.

<i>Alliaria petiolata</i> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Alliaria petiolata, or garlic mustard, is a biennial flowering plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, north-western Africa, Morocco, Iberia and the British Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and east to northern Pakistan and Xinjiang in western China.

<i>Pieris rapae</i> Species of butterfly

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.

<i>Pieris bryoniae</i> Species of butterfly

Pieris bryoniae, the dark-veined white or mountain green-veined white, is a Palearctic butterfly of the family Pieridae.

<i>Pieris oleracea</i> Species of butterfly

Pieris oleracea, or more commonly known as the mustard white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae native to a large part of Canada and the northeastern United States. The nearly all-white butterfly is often found in wooded areas or open plains. There are two seasonal forms, which make it distinct from other similar species. Because of climate change, populations are moving further north.

<i>Pieris virginiensis</i> Species of butterfly

Pieris virginiensis, the West Virginia white, is a butterfly found in North America in the Great Lakes states, along the Appalachians from New England to Alabama, and in southern Ontario. They are typically found in moist deciduous forests. Forestry, development, and a highly-invasive species that it confuses with its host plant (Cardamine) are causing this species to decline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierinae</span> Subfamily of butterflies

The Pierinae are a large subfamily of pierid butterflies. The subfamily is one of several clades of butterflies often referred to as the whites.

<i>Colias</i> Butterfly genus in family Pieridae

Colias is a genus of butterflies in the family Pieridae. They are often called clouded yellows in the Palearctic and sulphurs in North America. The closest living relative is the genus Zerene, which is sometimes included in Colias.

<i>Rhamphospermum arvense</i> Species of plant

Rhamphospermum arvense, the charlock mustard, field mustard, wild mustard, or just charlock, is an annual or winter annual plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is found in the fields of North Africa, Asia, Europe, and some other areas where it has been transported and naturalized. Pieris rapae, the small white butterfly, and Pieris napi, the green veined white butterfly, are significant consumers of charlock during their larval stages.

<i>Erysimum cheiranthoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Erysimum cheiranthoides, the treacle-mustard,wormseed wallflower, or wormseed mustard is a species of Erysimum native to most of central and northern Europe and northern and central Asia. Like other Erysimum species, E. cheiranthoides accumulates two major classes of defensive chemicals: glucosinolates and cardiac glycosides.

<i>Pontia occidentalis</i> Species of butterfly

Pontia occidentalis, the western white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Western North America.

<i>Pieris krueperi</i> Species of butterfly

Pieris krueperi, the Krueper's small white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found on the Balkan Peninsula and in Iran, Baluchistan, the Kopet-Dagh and from Asia Minor to Central Asia, as well as in Oman. The habitat consists arid areas with scanty vegetation up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in the mountains.

References

  1. 1 2 Davis, S., 2015. Evaluating threats to the rare butterfly, Pieris virginiensis. Wright State University. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1431882480
  2. Driesche, F.V.; Blossey, B.; Hoodle, M.; Lyon, S.; Reardon, R., 2010. Biological Control of Invasive Plants in the Eastern United States. USDA Forest Service. Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team. http://wiki.bugwood.org/Archive:BCIPEUS
  3. Pieris, funet.fi
  4. Pieris, BioLib.cz

Further reading