File:Pieris.rapae.mounted.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Pieris rapae
Sign in to saveAlso known as small cabbage white, small white, cabbage white butterfly, cabbage white, cabbage butterfly
species of butterfly
OverviewAI-generated
Pieris rapae, commonly known as the small white or cabbage butterfly, is a species of insect in the family Pieridae. Classified within the order Lepidoptera, class Insecta, and phylum Arthropoda, it belongs to the genus Pieris. The species was described by Linnaeus in 1758, though WoRMS lists Boisduval, 1836 as the authority. It is an accepted taxon with a status of Least Concern according to the IUCN Red List for 2025.
The butterfly has wings and serves as a pollinator for tomatoes. Its host plants include Sinapis arvensis, Tropaeolum majus, Alliaria petiolata, and Brassica. While its taxon range is listed as New Zealand, occurrence records are present in Canada, the United States, Portugal, Mexico, and Japan. These records are held by institutions such as RBINS-SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE, DMNS, MSU, IIZD-UASLP, and UMNH.
Synthesized by Vinony from 40 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, IUCN Red List, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
Least Concerncabbage butterfly
Pieris rapae
SPECIES
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderLepidoptera
- FamilyPieridae
菜粉蝶（学名：Pieris rapae）也叫「紋白蝶」，是菜粉蝶属下的一種蝴蝶，喜歡吸食花蜜。幼蟲以啃食十字花科蔬菜為食，例如：薺菜、細葉碎米薺、葶藶等野生植物，或是白菜、青江菜、高麗菜、蘿蔔等食用蔬菜。成年虫体长15－20毫米，头胸部灰黑色，翅膀灰白略带青色，有黑斑，幼虫叫「菜青虫（日语：アオムシ）」（毛蟲），体长28－35毫米，绿色，年生5－8代，幼虫危害甘蓝、青菜、大白菜等蔬菜，食幼片成孔洞，可用喷洒药剂杀幼虫，捕捉幼虫和蛹的办法防治。
via GBIF · IUCN
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 7,949
- With media
- 1,592
- Family
- Pieridae
- Collections
- RBINS-SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE, DMNS, MSU, IIZD-UASLP, UMNH, PSUC
- Recorded in
- Canada, United States, Portugal, Mexico, Japan
Wikidata facts
Show 10 more facts
- taxon rank
- species
- taxon name
- Pieris rapae
- Commons category
- Pieris rapae
- Commons gallery
- Pieris rapae
- taxon common name
- Klenge Kabespäiperlek
- taxon author citation
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- is pollinator of
- tomato
- short name
- P. rapae
- described by source
- Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- taxon range
- New Zealand
Sources (12)
via Wikidata · CC0
~21 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Pieris rapae is a small-to-medium-sized butterfly species of the whites-and-yellows family Pieridae. It is known in Europe as the small white, in North America and the United Kingdom as the cabbage white or cabbage butterfly, on several continents as the small cabbage white, and in New Zealand as the white butterfly. The butterfly is recognizable by its white color with small black dots on its wings, and it can be distinguished from P. brassicae by the latter's larger size and black band at the tip of the forewings.
The caterpillar of this species, often referred to as the "imported cabbageworm", is a pest to crucifer crops such as cabbage, kale, bok choy and broccoli. Pieris rapae is widespread in Europe and Asia; it is believed to have originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Europe and to have spread across Eurasia thanks to the diversification of brassicaceous crops and the development of human trade routes. Over the past two centuries, it spread to North Africa (about 1800), North America (1860s), Hawaii (1897), New Zealand (1930), and Australia (1937), as a result of accidental introductions.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pieris rapae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.