''Dixeia pigea'', the ant-heap small whiteWilliams, M. (1994). ''Butterflies of Southern Africa; A Field Guide''. Southern Book Publishers. . or ant-heap white,Markku Savela's pages

retrieved 4 August 2010. is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

in 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.DeVries P. J. in Levi ...

that is native to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Description

The wingspan is 40–48 mm for males and 40–52 mm for females. The upperside of the wings of males is pure white with a narrow black forewing tip and small black dots on the hindwing margin. The underside is whitish with two rows of black spots on the hindwings, with the inner row sometimes absent or incomplete. The female has several colour forms, but is usually pale yellowish white on the uppersurface with heavier black markings than the male, and has a dark spot on each forewing. There is a rare female form (''luteola'') where the upperside is orange yellow or deep apricot. The underside of females is similar to the male but the rows of black dots are more pronounced and the base colour is pale to bright yellow. Another rare form (''rubrobasalis'') has orange suffusion at the base of the underside of the forewing and a creamy-yellow upperside. The dry-season form (''alba'') has reduced black markings. A distinguishing feature of ''D. pigea'' is that the hindwing costal has a yellow streak, unlike other ''Dixeia'' species. File:Ant-heap_White_6016_Sharp_IC_&_A_2009-01-29_Limpopo.jpg, Female form ''rubrobasalis'' from Limpopo Province, South Africa File:Ant-heap_White_male_side_30_07_2010.JPG, Male viewed from the side; showing the yellow streak on the hindwing

Distribution

This species is found from the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

through

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

and

Limpopo Province Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while th ...

,Biodiversity data provided by: Data contributors to the Southern African Butterfly Conservation Assessment (SABCA) (list of contributors accessible here: http://sabca.adu.org.za/thanks.php ), a joint project of the South African National Biodiversity Institute, the Animal Demography Unit, University of Cape Town, and the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa (accessed via SABCA's online virtual museum, , 04-08-2010). to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

DRC The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Life cycle

Eggs

Groups of tiny, elongated eggs are laid on the undersurface of the leaves of the food plants.

Larvae

The larvae are green; pale green on the back and darker green on the sides when young, and develop two rows of pale green blotches down the length of the body as they grow older. The food plants are ''

Capparis sepiaria ''Capparis sepiaria'', also commonly called hedge caper or wild caper bush, is a shrub that has a pantropical distribution, especially in dry deciduous forests, foothills and scrub jungles. Description ''Capparis sepiaria'' is a prickly, eve ...

'' and ''

Capparis tomentosa ''Capparis tomentosa'', the woolly caper bushPooley, E. (1993). ''The Complete Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and Transkei''. . or African caper, is a plant in the Capparaceae family and is native to Africa. Distribution Found in bus ...

''.

Pupae

The pupae have an unusual shape, with a pointed 'nose' and a notable spike on each side of the body protruding from a broad, flattened area midway down the body. There is a smaller spike both to the fore and rear of each of these larger spikes, and a small spike on each side of the body just to the rear of the head. The larger spikes resemble to some extent the double, hooked thorns on the stems of the food plant, ''Capparis tomentosa'' ( see image). The pupae may be pale green, dark green or brown in colour. The wing areas show whitish or yellowish with dark spots near to hatching and the body becomes greyish.

Adults

The flight period is all year. They have been described as having a medium-fast, random flight pattern or as a rather weak, slow flying butterfly.Cooper, R. (1973). ''Butterflies of Rhodesia''. They keep to open areas in riverine forest and thick bush or the edges of bush areas. Both sexes feed from flowers and are greatly attracted to flowering bushes exposed to the sun.

Gallery

Image:Ant-heap_White_larvae_v_young_27_06_2010.JPG, Larvae of ''Dixeia pigea'', just a few days old Image:Ant-heap_White_larvae_12_07_2010_1.JPG, Older larvae Image:Ant-heap_White_larvae_12_07_2010_2.JPG, Larvae; the one on the left is near to pupating Image:Ant-heap_White_pupating_27_07_2010.JPG, Larva about to pupate Image:Ant-heap_White_brown_pupa_06_08_2010.JPG, Brown pupa Image:Ant-heap_White_green_pupa_07_08_2010.JPG, Green pupa Image:Ant-heap_White_pupa_underside_06_08_2010.JPG, Underside of female pupa; yellow wings showing through Image:Ant-heap_White_close_hatch_29_07_2010.JPG, Pupa near to hatching Image:Ant-heap_White_pupa_hatch_29_07_2010.JPG, Female hatching from pupa Image:Ant-heap_White_female_hatched_29_07_2010.JPG, Female extending wings after hatching Image:Ant-heap_White_female_side_30_07_2010.JPG, Side view of female Image:Ant-heap_White_female_release_30_07_2010.JPG, Captive raised female released onto larval food plant

References

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 14
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4778687 Pierini Butterflies of Africa Butterflies described in 1836 Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval