Pieris, the whites or garden whites, is a widespread genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of butterflies of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Pieridae

Pieridae

The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...

. Many species of this genus have caterpillar

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

s which feed on cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

 and other members of the Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae, a medium sized and economically important family of flowering plants , are informally known as the mustards, mustard flowers, the crucifers or the cabbage family....

. 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 and are considered pest insects almost everywhere.

The females of many Pieris butterflies are UV reflecting, while the male wings are strongly UV absorbing due to pigments in the scales.

Species and notable subspecies

Arranged alphabetically

• Pieris ajaka Moore, 1865
• Pieris angelika Eitschberger, 1983 – Arctic White
• Pieris balcana Lorkovic, 1970 – Balkan Green-veined White
• Pieris bowdeni Eitschberger, 1984
• Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus, 1758) – Large (Cabbage) White]]
• Pieris brassicoides Guérin-Méneville, 1849
• Pieris bryoniae (Hübner, [1790-1793]) – Dark-veined White or Mountain Green-veined White
• Pieris canidia
  Pieris canidia
  The Indian Cabbage White is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.-Description:Male has the upperside white to pale cream-colour...
  
  (Linnaeus, 1768) – Indian Cabbage White
• Pieris cheiranthi
  Pieris cheiranthi
  Pieris cheiranthi is a species of butterfly in the Pieridae family. It is endemic to the Canary Islands .*Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is threatened by habitat loss....
  
  (Hübner, 1808) – Canary Islands' Large White
• Pieris davidis Oberthür, 1876
• Pieris deota
  Pieris deota
  Kashmir White is a small butterfly of the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, which is found in India, Pakistan, Tibet and central Asia. It is found in the NW Himalayas in Ladakh at 760 m...
  
  (de Nicéville, 1884) – Kashmir White
• Pieris dubernardi Oberthür, 1884
  • Pieris dubernardi chumbiensis
    Pieris dubernardi chumbiensis
    Chumbi White, Pieris chumbiensis earlier considered a race of P. dubernardiis a small butterfly of the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, which is found in the Chumbi Valley in Sikkim in India.-Description:...
    
    (de Nicéville, 1884) – Chumbi White
• Pieris dulcinea (Butler, 1882)
• Pieris eitschbergeri Lukhtanov, 1996
• Pieris ergane
  Pieris ergane
  The Mountain Small White is a butterfly of the Pieridae family. It is found in Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Transcaucasia....
  
  (Geyer, [1828]) – Mountain Small White
• Pieris erutae Poujade, 1888
• Pieris euorientis (Verity, 1908)
• Pieris extensa Poujade, 1888
• Pieris krueperi Staudinger, 1860 – Krueper's Small White
  • Pieris krueperi devta (de Nicéville, 1884) – Green-banded White
• Pieris lama Sugiyama, 1996
• Pieris mahometana (Grum-Grshimailo, 1888)
• Pieris mannii
  Pieris mannii
  The Southern Small White is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in South Europe , Asia Minor , Morocco and Syria.The length of the forewings is 20–23 mm...
  
  (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
• Pieris melete Ménétriés, 1857 – Gray-veined White Butterfly
• Pieris naganum
  Pieris naganum
  Naga White , Pieris naganum is a small butterfly of the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, which is found in Assam and the Naga hills in India and in Upper Myanmar.-Description:...
  
  Moore, 1884 – Naga White
• Pieris napi (Linnaeus, 1758) – Green-veined White or Veined White
• Pieris narina (Verity, 1908)
• Pieris nesis Fruhstorfer, 1909
• Pieris ochsenheimeri (Staudinger, 1886)
• Pieris oleracea Harris, 1829 – Mustard White
  • Pieris oleracea frigida Scudder, 1861 – Newfoundland White
• Pieris persis (Verity, 1922)
• Pieris pseudorapae (Verity, [1908])
• Pieris rapae (Linnaeus, 1758) – Small White or (Small) Cabbage White
• Pieris steinigeri Eitschberger, 1984
• Pieris tadjika Grum-Grshimailo, 1888
• Pieris virginiensis (W.H. Edwards, 1870) – West Virginia White