Pieris bryoniae

Mountain Green-veined White (Pieris bryoniae)

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


22939_male_Valais, Switzerland_22Jul10	8298_male_Valais, Switzerland_22Jul07	40819_male_Alpes-Maritimes_2Jul16	52340_male_Alpes-Maritimes_1Jul24

21883_female_Alpes-Maritimes_10Jul10	12206_female_Hautes-Alpes_8Jul08	26944_female_Alpes-Maritimes_11Jul11	36429_female_Valais, Switzerland_20Jul14

45572_female_Savoie_12Jul18	47064_female_Savoie_7Jul20	33472_male_Hautes-Alpes_7Jul13	52743_male_Savoie_5Jul24

Bryoniae is a high altitude species closely related to the Green-veined White (P. napi). The bryoniae altitude range is a minimum of 1000m (Lafranchis says exceptionally 700m) but it is normally found at much higher altitudes. Napi has an altitude range of 0-1800m so it cannot be assumed that any green-veined species seen at high altitudes is bryoniae. It is univoltine (single brooded) in France flying from mid-June to mid-August.

The male strongly resembles the first brood of the male napi. The bryoniae forewing is rather more pointed, the upf apical marks of bryoniae are rather more extensive than napi. According to the Lafranchis ID book (TLID), the key characteristic is that the uph veins of bryoniae are black where they reach the margins, not so for napi.

The unh veins are heavily suffused grey, reaching to the margins, for bryoniae. This is also true for first generation napi, which has heavily suffused unh veins, but not for second generation napi, where the veins are only lightly suffused and do not reach to the margins.

The female has a pale creamy ground colour and is heavily suffused grey to grey-brown. The upf has a grey streak connecting the margin to the post-discal spot, although the ones I have seen have been so heavily suffused, this has been hard to determine. The female is almost impossible to confuse with any other species, even a first brood female napi.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
22939	M	a male, the black lining to the uph veins being quite apparent.	2150
8298	M	a male, with a suggestion of a post-discal spot in s3.	2200
40819	M	a male, taking salts from the ground and obliging for a photograph.	1780
52340	M	a male.	1550
48283	M	a male, with a rather more solid apical mark than others on this page. It appears to on very wet terrain, usually avoided by puddling males.	1560
21883	F	a female, relatively lightly suffused.	2000
12206	F	a female, more typically heavily suffused.	1990
26944	F	a female, quite worn, although lightly suffused.	2000
36429	F	another female; perhaps they get noticed and seem more common because of the degree of suffusion, whereas males may be confused with other species of whites.	2090
45572	F	*an unusually strongly marked female, much less suffused than the norm for female bryoniae.*	2090
47064	F	a particularly dusky female on a rather creamy white background. Quite appealing for a species that would otherwise be considered a little dull by comparison to its more illustrious cousins.	2010
33472	M	*a male. The veins are heavily suffused and reach the margins, confirming bryoniae.*	2040
52753	M	a male, although they puddle a lot, it is not always easy to get an underside shot.	1930