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, 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.
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.
Boechera (rockcress) is a genus of the family Brassicaceae. It was named after the Danish botanist Tyge W. Böcher (1909–1983), who was known for his research in alpine plants, including the mustards Draba and Boechera holboellii. According to recent molecular-based studies, Boechera is closely related to the genus Arabidopsis which also includes the widely known model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
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.
Celastrina neglecta, the summer azure, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America. Layberry, Hall, and Lafontaine, in The Butterflies of Canada, describe the species:
The upper surface is pale blue with an extensive dusting of white scales, especially on the hindwing. In some females the blue is almost entirely replaced by white with a small amount of blue near the wing bases. Females have a broad blackish-grey band on the outer third and costa of the forewing. The underside is chalky white to pale grey with tiny dark grey spots and a zigzagged submarginal line on the hindwing.
Streptanthus breweri is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Brewer's jewelflower. It is endemic to California, where it can be found in the coastal mountain ranges from the Klamath Mountains south to the San Francisco Bay Area. Its habitat includes chaparral and woodlands, usually on serpentine soils. It is an annual herb producing an erect, branching stem up to about 80 centimeters in maximum height. It is hairless except for fine hairs on some of the inflorescence parts, and it may be waxy in texture. The basal leaves have oval blades borne on petioles, and the lance-shaped leaves farther up the stem clasp it at their bases. Flowers occur at intervals along the upper stem, sometimes in a zig-zagging, one-sided array. Each has an urn-shaped calyx of keeled greenish or purplish sepals under a centimeter long. White, purple, or purple-veined white petals emerge from the tip. The fruit is a narrow, curved silique which may be 9 to 11 centimeters in length.
Pontia beckerii, the Becker's white, Great Basin white, or sagebrush white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in western North America from Baja California, Mexico to southern British Columbia, Canada.
Euchloe lotta, the desert marble, is a species of butterfly that occurs in the interior of British Columbia, Canada.
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.
Pontia glauconome, the desert white or desert Bath white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Arabia, Egypt, the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the southern part of the former Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The habitat consists of sub-deserts.
Pierina is a subtribe of cabbage whites, checkered whites, albatrosses in the family Pieridae. There are about 8 genera and 18 described species in Pierina.
