''Pieris deota'', the Kashmir white, is a small

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 ...

, that is, the yellows and whites, which is found in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, and central Asia. It is found in the north-western Himalayas in

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

at and in Tibet and the

Pamirs The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world' ...

, at altitudes of .

Description

It closely resembles ''

Pieris brassicae ''Pieris brassicae'', the large white, also called cabbage butterfly, cabbage white, cabbage moth (erroneously), or in India the large cabbage white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is a close relative of the small white, ''Pieris ra ...

'', from which it differs as follows: Male has the upper forewing with inner margin of the black area on apex and termen not smoothly curved but sinuate (curved); an elongate narrow black spot, sometimes faint and ill defined but always traceable, in interspace 3. Hindwing: termen edged by a narrow continuous black band that extends from the black costal spot to the middle of interspace 3. Underside, forewing: apex and upper portion of termen ashy brown (by reason of the black on the upperside that shows through by transparency), thickly irrorated with black scales; besides the black spots in interspaces 1 and 3 present as in ''P. brassicae'', there is a third black spot from middle of interspace 5 to vein 7 that extends above the latter vein diffusely to the costa. Hindwing: as in ''P. brassicae'' but the ground colour not so yellow; the black terminal band of the upperside can be seen through faintly by transparency; the black subcostal spot as in ''P. brassicce'', with a second black spot in interspace 3. Female has the upperside as in the female of ''P. brassicae'', but as in the male of its own form, the inner margin of the black area at apex and on termen of forewing not smoothly curved but sinuate. Hindwing: a black terminal band like that in the male but broader and divided by the white veins into a series of inwardly diffuse subquadrate spots; a small black spot in interspace 3, another in interspace 5, the latter joined to the subcostal black spot which is particularly large and prominent. Underside as in the male.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1915064 Fauna of Pakistan deota Butterflies described in 1884 Butterflies of Asia Insects of Pakistan Taxa named by Lionel de Nicéville

Description

See also

References