Small White (Pieris rapae)
2011 photos highlighted in green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 14795_male_Var_28Apr09 | 17219_male_Alpes-Maritimes_04Jul09 | 7965_male_Isère_5Jul07 |
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| 20832_pair_Var_16Jun10 |
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Undoubtedly the most common butterfly in Europe. It has three to five generations in lowland regions, one or two in mountainous areas. The first brood is quite lightly marked compared to the summer brood. |
It is very similar to the Southern Small White (P. mannii) (see the mannii page for distinguishing features) which is quite common, perhaps even more so than rapae, in southern Var. |
| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 14795 | M |
a first brood male. |
185 |
| 17219 | M |
a male of the summer brood, with a rather small post-discal spot. There are some distinct differences to typical mannii, especially the thickness of the apical mark and that it extends down the margin only to around v5, not low enough for typical mannii but lower than I would expect for rapae (H&R says rapae extends to v7 or v6, and mannii to v4 or v3). Does the spot have a straight external edge? Very hard to say. It almost seems like an intermediary form between rapae and mannii, but I don't believe these exist. On balance, it may be rather closer to rapae than mannii. |
1875 |
| 7965 | M |
a male of the summer brood, with a heavy sprinkling of grey scales on the pure lemon yellow unh. The fork is extremely small. |
900 |
| 20832 | PAIR |
a mating pair. These can be clearly identified as rapae rather than mannii as the forewing vein 7 is forked (see mannii page). |
10 |
17219_male_Alpes-Maritimes_04Jul09
