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Green-veined white facts for kids

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Green-veined white
Green-veined white butterfly (Pieris napi) topside.JPG
Pieris napi - Kulna.jpg
Scientific classification
Genus:
Pieris (butterfly)
Species:
napi

The green-veined white (Pieris napi) is a beautiful butterfly from the Pieridae family. You can find these lovely insects flying across many parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. They are often seen fluttering in meadows and woodlands. This butterfly gets its name from the greenish lines you can sometimes see on the underside of its wings.

About the Green-Veined White Butterfly

What Does It Look Like?

The green-veined white butterfly is a medium-sized insect. It has white wings, but if you look closely, especially at the underside of its hindwings, you'll see pale yellow with veins highlighted by black scales. This gives them a greenish look, which is how it got its name!

Male and female green-veined whites look a little different. Females usually have two dark spots on each front wing, while males often have only one. The veins on the female's wings are also usually more noticeable.

Where Do They Live?

These butterflies live in many places around the world. You can find them across Europe, Asia (including India and Japan), North Africa, and North America. They love open spaces like meadows, forest edges, and hedgerows. Unlike some of their relatives, they don't often visit gardens.

Male green-veined whites release a special scent that smells a bit like lemon. This scent helps them communicate with other butterflies.

The Butterfly's Life Cycle

Eggs, Caterpillars, and Pupae

The green-veined white butterfly starts its life as a tiny egg. The female butterfly lays her eggs one by one on different plants. These plants are usually wild ones, not garden vegetables like cabbage.

When the egg hatches, a small green caterpillar appears. This caterpillar is very good at hiding because its color blends in with the leaves it eats. It has small black bumps with tiny hairs and a yellow line along its sides.

Caterpillars eat a lot to grow. They munch on plants like hedge mustard, garlic mustard, cuckooflower, and water-cress. They usually eat the leaves, while other butterfly caterpillars might eat the flowers.

After growing big enough, the caterpillar changes into a pupa. This is a resting stage, often green or yellowish, where the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. The pupa stays hidden through the winter, waiting for spring to emerge as an adult butterfly.

What Do Caterpillars Eat?

Green-veined white caterpillars enjoy a variety of wild plants. They especially like plants from the mustard family. Some of their favorite foods include hedge mustard, garlic mustard, cuckooflower, and water-cress. Because they prefer wild plants, they are rarely a problem for garden vegetables.

Where Green-Veined Whites Live

Favorite Places to Fly

Green-veined white butterflies prefer damp, grassy areas with some shade. You can often spot them along the edges of forests, in hedgerows, and in meadows. They also like wooded river valleys. As the year goes on, they might explore drier, flower-filled places to find more food plants. In warmer regions, they can be found near mountain streams or on floodplains. They live from sea level up to very high mountains, sometimes over 3,600 meters!

When Do They Fly?

These butterflies fly at different times depending on where they live and the weather. In northern Europe, you might see two or three groups (generations) of butterflies from April to early September. In warmer places, or during very good years, there might even be a fourth group. In southern Europe, they can fly from March all the way to October, with several groups appearing throughout the season.

Amazing Adaptations

Changing Looks with the Seasons

South1906Plate13
Plate 13 from The Butterflies of the British Isles by Richard South

Green-veined white butterflies can look a bit different depending on when they emerge. For example, in Great Britain, butterflies that fly in April, May, and June often have veins on their wings that are tinged with grey. These markings are quite clear.

Butterflies that appear later in the summer, during July and August, usually have less distinct markings. Their veins might only be faintly shaded with greenish-grey, or not at all. It's like nature's way of giving them a slightly different outfit for each season! Sometimes, a butterfly from an early group might look like one from a later group, and vice versa, but these seasonal differences are usually quite consistent.

Scientists have found that if eggs are laid in June, some of the caterpillars will become butterflies the same year. Others will stay as pupae until the next spring. Each group will have the look that matches their time of emergence.

Special Scents for Communication

Male green-veined white butterflies have a unique scent, like lemon verbena. This smell comes from special scales on their wings. This scent helps them communicate with other butterflies.

When a male butterfly mates with a female, he gives her a special chemical along with his contribution to the eggs. This chemical has a scent that tells other males to stay away. This helps the first male ensure that his offspring will be the ones the female focuses on.

Females also use scents! After a female has mated, she might release a similar scent if another male tries to approach her. This scent tells the new male that she is not looking for another mate right now, and he usually leaves her alone. However, a female who hasn't mated yet might use a slightly different signal to show she is ready to find a partner. Males are very good at noticing these subtle differences.

How Butterflies Find Mates

Pieris napi couple (aka)
Mating Pieris napi

Female green-veined white butterflies often mate with more than one male. This can help them lay more eggs and live longer. Males give females special nutrients during mating, which are like a gift. These nutrients help the female produce healthy eggs.

However, mating is also a big effort for males. The special gifts they provide can be a significant part of their body weight. Even though it's beneficial for females to mate multiple times, some females only mate once. This can depend on factors like how many males are around or their age.

Males also have a clever way to make sure their genes are passed on. After mating, a male might influence the female so she focuses on his offspring for a certain period. This means she might not be ready to mate again right away. This strategy helps the male ensure his family has the best chance to grow.

Family and Relatives

Close Cousins

Some scientists think that the green-veined white butterfly is part of a larger group, or "superspecies," that includes some butterflies from North America, like the mustard white and West Virginia white. It also includes the European dark-veined white.

However, there's a challenge for the American butterflies. They can't successfully lay eggs on a plant called garlic mustard. This plant is not native to North America and grows very fast, taking over the space of native plants that the butterflies need. In Europe, where garlic mustard is native, many insects eat it, so it's not a problem there.

Similar Butterflies You Might See

It's easy to confuse the green-veined white with other white butterflies! Here are some similar ones:

  • Pieris bryoniae (Dark-veined white)
  • Pieris ergane
  • Pieris krueperi (Krueper's small white)
  • Pieris rapae (Small white)
  • Pieris oleracea (Mustard white)

Different Types of Green-Veined Whites

Green-veined white (Pieris napi lusitanica) female
Female P.n. lusitanica
Portugal

Just like there are different breeds of dogs, there are different types, or subspecies, of green-veined white butterflies. Here are a few examples:

  • Pieris napi napi
  • Pieris napi adalwinda (found in Finland, Sweden)
  • Pieris napi meridionalis (found in Spain, Italy)
  • Pieris napi segonzaci (found in High Atlas mountains)
  • Pieris napi maura (found in Algeria)
  • Pieris napi atlantis (found in Morocco)
  • Pieris napi flavescens (found in Austria)
  • Pieris napi lusitanica (found in Portugal)
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