Pieris (butterfly)

''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.

Ecology

Many species of this genus have caterpillars which feed on cabbage and other members of the Brassicaceae. The chemical basis of this association with a certain plant group has been studied for over 100 years, and is now known to occur via a number of biochemical adaptations to chemicals called glucosinolates in these plants. In contrast to most other insects, ''Pieris'' caterpillars are able to detoxify these chemicals, and have become so specialised that they will not eat any food without glucosinolates. The ''Pieris'' females, in turn, check for the presence of glucosinolates before laying eggs on a plant. The crop-damaging species have spread from Eurasia to most of the rest of the world (most recently to South America and Africa) and are considered pest insects almost everywhere. There are species of ''Pieris'' that are not pests, such as the North American species '' Pieris oleracea'' (mustard white) and '' Pieris virginiensis'' (Virginia white). These butterflies feed successfully only on specific native vegetation.Davis, S., 2015. Evaluating threats to the rare butterfly, Pieris virginiensis. Wright State University. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=wright1431882480&disposition=inline

Some members of ''Pieris'' are threatened by the rapid spread of some plants in the Brassicaceae, such as the way the highly invasive garlic mustard (''Alliaria petiolata'') kills the larvae of ''Pieris oleracea'' and ''Pieris virginiensis'' in North America. Given the large differences between the chemicals that garlic mustard creates versus those of mustards native to North America, it is likely that it is also lethal to other members of ''Pieris'' that are native to North America. It is listed as a suitable food plant for the Eurasian Veined white ('' Pieris napi''). Having not evolved with garlic mustard, the aforementioned American butterflies lay eggs on it, confusing it with their host plants due to a similar odor. Just because butterflies are members of ''Pieris'' does not mean they are all capable of feeding on the same members of Brassicaceae that other members of ''Pieris'' can feed on.

Species and notable subspecies

Arranged alphabetically:''Pieris''
BioLib.cz


* '' Pieris ajaka'' Moore, 1865 (Kashmir)
* '' Pieris angelika'' Eitschberger, 1983 – Arctic white
* '' Pieris balcana'' Lorkovic, 1970 – Balkan green-veined white (southeast Europe)
* '' Pieris bowdeni'' Eitschberger, 1984 (Iran, Turkey, Transcaucasia, Kopet-Dagh)
* ''Pieris brassicae'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – large white or large cabbage white
* '' Pieris brassicoides'' Guérin-Méneville, 1849
* ''Pieris bryoniae'' (Hübner, 790-1793 – dark-veined white or mountain green-veined white
* '' Pieris canidia'' ( Sparrman, 1768) – Indian cabbage white
* '' Pieris cheiranthi'' (Hübner, 1808) – Canary Islands' large white
* '' Pieris chumbiensis'' (de Nicéville, 1884) – Chumbi white
* '' Pieris davidis'' Oberthür, 1876 (western and central China)
* ''Pieris deota'' (de Nicéville, 1884) – Kashmir white
* '' Pieris dubernardi'' Oberthür, 1884 (western China)
* '' Pieris dulcinea'' (Butler, 1882) (northeastern Korea)
* '' Pieris eitschbergeri'' Lukhtanov, 1996 (Kirgisien, Inner Tienshan) – may be synonym of ''Pieris deota''
* '' Pieris ergane'' (Geyer, 828 – mountain small white
* '' Pieris erutae'' Poujade, 1888 (eastern Tibet, Yunnan (China))
* '' Pieris euorientis'' (Verity, 1908) (Altai Mountains to central Yakutia)
* ''Pieris extensa'' Poujade, 1888 (western China, Fukien, India) – sometimes in ''Pontia''
* ''Pieris krueperi'' Staudinger, 1860 – Krueper's small white
** ''Pieris krueperi devta'' (de Nicéville, 1884) – green-banded white
* '' Pieris lama'' Sugiyama, 1996 (western China)
* ''Pieris mahometana'' (Grum-Grshimailo, 1888) (northeastern Afghanistan and Pamirs)
* '' Pieris mannii'' (Mayer, 1851) – southern small white
* ''Pieris marginalis'' Scudder, 1861 – margined white
** ''Pieris marginalis reicheli'' Eitschberger, 1983 – Reichel's margined white
* '' Pieris meckyae'' Eitschberger, 1983 – Mecky's white (Alaska) may be subspecies of ''Pieris marginalis''
* '' Pieris melete'' Ménétriés, 1857 – grey-veined white (northern India, and separately in China, Korea and Japan)
* '' Pieris naganum'' Moore, 1884 – Naga white
* '' Pieris napi'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – green-veined white or veined white
* '' Pieris narina'' (Verity, 1908) (Tian-Shan)
* '' Pieris nesis'' Fruhstorfer, 1909 (Japan)
* ''Pieris ochsenheimeri'' (Staudinger, 1886) (mountains of central Asia)
* '' Pieris oleracea'' Harris, 1829 – mustard white
** '' Pieris oleracea frigida'' Scudder, 1861 – Newfoundland white
* '' Pieris persis'' (Verity, 1922) (Iran)
* '' Pieris pseudorapae'' (Verity, 908 (southern Europe, Turkey and Iran)
* ''Pieris rapae'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – small white or (small) cabbage white
* '' Pieris shangrilla'' Tadokoro, Shinkawa & Wang, 2013
* '' Pieris steinigeri'' Eitschberger, 1984 (Weihsi (China))
* '' Pieris tadjika'' Grum-Grshimailo, 1888 (Iraq)
* '' Pieris virginiensis'' (W.H. Edwards, 1870) – West Virginia white

References

Further reading

* Glassberg, Jeffrey ''Butterflies through Binoculars, The West'' (2001)
* Guppy, Crispin S. and Shepard, Jon H. ''Butterflies of British Columbia'' (2001)
* James, David G. and Nunnallee, David ''Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies'' (2011)
* Pelham, Jonathan ''Catalogue of the Butterflies of the United States and Canada'' (2008)
* Pyle, Robert Michael ''The Butterflies of Cascadia'' (2002)

External links

Butterflies and Moths of North America

Butterflies of America

images representing ''Pieris''
at Consortium for the Barcode of Life

{{Taxonbar, from=Q997547

Pieridae genera
Taxa named by Franz von Paula Schrank
Pierini