Pieris napi

Green-veined White (Pieris napi)

2024 photographs highlighted in yellow. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


37577_male_Côte-d'Or_12Jun15	47776_male_UK, Hertfordshire_2May21	47900_male_UK, Hertfordshire_16May21	47836_female_UK, Hertfordshire_5May21

48987_pair_UK, Hertfordshire_18Apr22	4570_female_Rhône_12Apr07	16184_female_Rhône_15Jun09	20239_female_Alpes de Haute Provence_21May10

51610_female_Lozère_14Jul23	26580_male_Alpes-Maritimes_08Jul11	47922_male_UK, Hertfordshire_16May21	47930_male_UK, Hertfordshire_16May21

49012_pair_UK, Hertfordshire_18Apr22	47829_female_UK, Hertfordshire_5May21	2529_female_Var_9Jul06	34420_sex?_Var_12Apr14

52917_female_Isère_10Jul24

Napi is closely related to the Mountain Green-veined White (P. bryoniae). For observations on the differences between these species, please see the bryoniae page. Napi is polyvoltine (multiple brooded) with three broods per annum, and possibly a fourth.

The first brood male is very similar to bryoniae. The first brood female is quite heavily suffused (see 4570) and the summer brood (second generation) rather more cleanly marked (see 16184). I believe that 2529 is a second brood specimen of the southern European subspecies meridionalis, rather larger than the nominate form, and quite lightly marked.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
37577	M	a second brood male.	370
47776	M	a first brood male, typically with no upf post-discal spot.	60
47900	M	a first brood male, with a rather vestigial upf post-discal spot.	60
47836	F	a first brood female, heavily dusted.	60
48987	PAIR	a first brood mating pair, male on the left. 49012 is the same pair.	60
4570	F	a first brood female, with the characteristic heavily suffused upf.	200
16184	F	a summer brood female napi. I originally had this on the page for the Large White (P. brassicae) because that is what it clearly looked like, and I did not give it sufficient attention. The main reason for this, which I find surprising, is that I don't think I had previously seen a second generation female napi upperside, or at least, not knowingly. It is not a common species in Var. The dark apical mark looked good for brassicae as did the two black spots, and the absence of any real "green" or dusted veins. The illustration of second generation female napi in T&L shows the apical mark as rather fragmenting around veins 4-6 at the margins rather than the solid area as in 16184. However, the brassicae apical mark is solid black, whereas 16184 is rather greyer, and the brassicae apical mark is also smooth where it joins the costa, whereas 16184 has a pronounced "shoulder". 16184 also looks very clean and "white", but the lesson, for me at least, is always to look closely even if the identification seems obvious. Thanks to Tim Cowles for bringing this to my notice.	200
20239	F	a first brood female.	650
51610	F	*I believe this to be a second generation female napi, but am far from 100% certain.*	1340
26580	M	*a summer brood male, puddling. It is of the subspecies meridionalis, as indicated by the pale yellow colour and light dusting of grey scales principally around the cell area.*	1400
47922	M	a first brood male with rather lighter dusting around the veins than would be expected for a male (compare 47930).	60
47930	M	a first brood male with typically heavy dusting around the veins.	60
49012	PAIR	a mating pair, the same pair as in 48987. They were on a track used by cyclists, so were assisted to a more safe location.	60
47829	F	a first brood female with rather heavier dusting around the veins than the illustration in T&L. There are two white unh patches indicating an absence of yellow scales, but this may be natural as there is no indication of any damage to the wing.	60
2529	F	*a female meridionalis* of the summer brood. The unh ground colour is very pale creamy-white and the grey scaling around the cell area is very light.**	230
34420	?	an unfortunate victim of a crab spider. Note that the colour of the spider matches exactly the colour of the flowers it was hiding in.	20
52917	F	I originally had this labelled as a Small White (P. rapae) on the basis of the fork on vein 7 which is what differentiates rapae from the Southern Small White (P. mannii), but had overlooked the fact that napi also has a fork here. Added to this the unh dusting of grey scales is quite light, but that is normal for the southern form of napi, meridionalis.	920