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.
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.
Anthocharis cethura, the desert orangetip or Felder's orangetip, is a species of butterfly in the subfamily Pierinae. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it lives on hills and ridges in rocky desert habitat.
Pontia daplidice, the Bath white, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, the yellows and whites, which occurs in the Palearctic region. It is common in central and southern Europe, migrating northwards every summer, often reaching southern Scandinavia and sometimes southern England.
Pontia chloridice, the lesser Bath white, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites. The species is found in steppe zone of Ukraine, Moldova and Russia; east to Transbaikalia, Mongolia, Korea; south to Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Transcaucasia, Greater Caucasus, Iran, Northern Pakistan, Central Asia, Kazakhstan.
Pontia callidice, the lofty Bath white or peak white, is a small butterfly of the yellows and whites family (Pieridae), which occurs in the Palearctic realm.
Morpho polyphemus, the white morpho or Polyphemus white morpho, is a white butterfly of Mexico and Central America, ranging as far south as Costa Rica. As suggested by its name, this is one of the relatively few Morphos that is white rather than blue. Some authorities include M. luna, which is also white, as a subspecies of M. polyphemus.
Pontia is a genus of pierid butterflies. They are found in the Holarctic, but are rare in Europe and central to eastern North America, and a few species range into the Afrotropics. Several East Asian species once placed here are now more often split off in Sinopieris. Like the closely related genus Pieris, they are commonly called whites.
Pontia protodice, the checkered white or southern cabbage butterfly, is a common North American butterfly in the family Pieridae. Its green larva is a type of cabbage worm.
Colias philodice, the common sulphur or clouded sulphur, is a North American butterfly in the family Pieridae, subfamily Coliadinae.
Pontia occidentalis, the western white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Western North America.
Pontia edusa, the eastern Bath white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.
Stanleya pinnata is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known as desert prince's-plume. It is a perennial herb or shrub native to North America.
Pontia sisymbrii, the spring white, California white, or Colorado white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in mountainous areas of western Canada and the United States.
Pontia distorta, the small meadow white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Ethiopia, Somalia, northern Kenya and possibly north-eastern Tanzania. The habitat consists of sub-desert thorn-bush areas.
