PIERIDAE in Australia Whites and Yellows. PAPILIONOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans, (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

PIERIDAE eggs

PIERIDAE caterpillars

PIERIDAE pupae

PIERIDAE butterflies

PIERIDAE undersides

PIERIDAE Caterpillars live in the open, and rely on camouflage for protection. They are usually green or reddish brown. They have no spiky fleshy processes, being covered in fine hairs only. Their pupae are attached to a stem, or more often a flat surface, by a cremaster and a central silken girdle. The head end of the pupa is pointed or forked, and the upper surface often bears one or more pointed projections.

The 36 Australian species in PIERIDAE are:

Appias ada : Rare Albatross
Appias albina : White Albatross
Appias celestina : Blue Albatross
Appias paulina : Common Albatross
Appias melania : Grey Albatross

Belenois java : Caper White

Catopsilia gorgophone : Yellow Migrant
Catopsilia pomona : Lemon Migrant
Catopsilia pyranthe : Common Migrant
Catopsilia scylla : Orange Migrant

Cepora perimale : Australian Gull

Delias aestiva : Summer Jezebel
Delias aganippe : Red-spotted Jezebel
Delias argenthona : Northern Jezebel
Delias aruna : Orange Jezebel
Delias ennia : Nigidius Jezebel
Delias harpalyce : Imperial White
Delias mysis : Union Jack
Delias nigrina : Common Jezebel
Delias nysa : Yellow Spotted Jezebel

Elodina angulipennis : Common Pearl White
Elodina claudia
Elodina padusa : Narrow-Winged Pearl White
Elodina parthia : Chalk White
Elodina perdita : Northern Pearl White
Elodina queenslandica : Queensland Pearl White
Elodina tongura
Elodina walkeri

Eurema alitha : Scalloped Grass Yellow
Eurema brigitta : No-Brand Grass Yellow
Eurema hecabe : Common Grass Yellow
Eurema herla : Macleay's Grass Yellow
Eurema laeta : Line Grass Yellow
Eurema puella : Broad Margined Grass Yellow
Eurema smilax : Small Grass Yellow

Leptosia nina : Psyche

Pieris rapae : Cabbage White

Further reading:

John Moss & Ross Kendall,
Interesting Variations in Pierid Butterfly Adult Morphology,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 61 (June 2011), pp. 21-26,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.

previous butterfly family

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next butterfly family

(updated 4 June 2010, 8 March 2017, 12 June 2020)