''Leptosia alcesta'', the African wood white or flip flop, 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 ...

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.DeVries P. J. in Levi ...

, found in

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 ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 30–40 mm in males and 35–42 mm in females. The adults fly year-round, peaking from March to May. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e feed on ''

Ritchiea ''Ritchiea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Capparaceae. Its native range is Tropical Africa. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cabinda Province, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, E ...

'' species, '' Capparis fascicularis'', and '' Capparis brassii''.

Subspecies

*''L. a. alcesta'' (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo) *''L. a. inalcesta'' Bernardi, 1959 (Uganda, southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland) *''L. a. pseudonuptilla'' Bernardi, 1959 (Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ethiopia) *''L. a. sylvicola'' (Boisduval, 1833) (Madagascar) Wood white (Leptosia alcesta alcesta).jpg, ''L. a. alcesta'',

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

File:African Wood White flip flop (Leptosia alcesta inalcesta) in flight.jpg, ''L. a. inalcesta'',In flight File:African Wood White flip flop (Leptosia alcesta) face.jpg, Worn specimen with the appearance of a face African wood white (Leptosia alcesta sylvicola) underside.jpg, ''L. a. sylvicola'',

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

References

External links

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 10
alcesta Butterflies of Africa Butterflies described in 1782 Taxa named by Caspar Stoll {{Pieridae-stub