![]() | Southern Pearl-white (previously known as Terias angulipennis) PIERINAE, PIERIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
This Caterpillar is green with reddish-brown marks and a pale yellow dorsal line, and has a forked tail.
It feeds on rainforest shrubs from the family CAPPARACEAE including
The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms. The pupa is green with a long pointed head.
The upper surfaces of the wings of the adults are a pearly white, with big black marks around the tips of the forewings. The forewings also each have a black costa.
Underneath, each forewing is a pearly pale yellow with a grey patch near the apex. The hind wings are white with a subterminal arc of grey spots. The butterflies have a winspan of about 4 cms.
The eggs are spindle-shaped, and laid singly on a foodplant. Initially they are white, but develop red markings as they approach hatching.
The species is found over the north eastern coast of Australia, including
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 314-315.
Wesley Jenkinson,
Life History notes on the Southern Pearl-white,
Elodina angulipennis (P.H. Lucas, 1852) Lepidoptera: Pieridae,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 59 (December 2010), pp 13-16.
Hippolyte Lucas,
Description de nouvelles Espèces de Lépidoptères
appartenant aux collections entomologiques du Musée de Paris,
Revue et Magasin de Zoologie,
Series 2, Volume 4, Part 9 (1852), pp. 431-432.
![]() caterpillar | ![]() butterflies | ![]() Lepidoptera | ![]() moths | ![]() caterpillar |
(updated 1 January 2012, 29 December 2023)