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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Butterflies and Skippers (Papilionoidea) » Whites, Sulphurs, Yellows (Pieridae) » Whites (Pierinae) » Cabbage Whites, Checkered Whites, Albatrosses (Pierini) » Checkered Whites (Pontia) » Checkered White - Hodges#4193 (Pontia protodice)

Species Pontia protodice - Checkered White - Hodges#4193

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · See Also · Internet References · Works Cited
Checkered white for California in October - Pontia protodice - male Checkered White for California in September - Pontia protodice - male Pieridae, Checkered White - Pontia protodice Unknown Lepidopteran in Mojave Desert - Pontia protodice White winged butterfly photographed at Queens Island Preserve, North Hutchinson Island, Fort Pierce, Florida, 1:53 pm 5-5-2013 - Pontia protodice Checkered White - Pontia protodice Checkered White - Pontia protodice white butterfly in Vargas Plateau Regional Park midday 2021 June 25 - Pontia protodice
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Pieridae (Whites, Sulphurs, Yellows)
Subfamily Pierinae (Whites)
Tribe Pierini (Cabbage Whites, Checkered Whites, Albatrosses)
Genus Pontia (Checkered Whites)
Species protodice (Checkered White - Hodges#4193)
Hodges Number
4193
Other Common Names
Southern Cabbageworm (1)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Pontia protodice (Boisduval & LeConte, 1830)
Size
Wingspan 3.8-6.3 cm
Identification
Adult: Sexually dimorphic. Males are nearly all white, with some dark spots and dashes on the dorsal side of FW. Females are have considerably more dark markings on the dorsal side of FW. (1)
Range
Entire United States and southern Canada, but spotty in the East, and often irratic in abundance toward the north.
Habitat
Open areas
Season
Year-round, depending upon climate and weather. Usually multiple-brooded with two or three broods in most of US but with continuous overlapping brooding some years in the Southwest. Usually rare or uncommon during winter even in mild climates.
Food
Larvae feed on Mustard Family (Brassicaceae), including Cabbage (Brassica oleraceae) as well as Caper Family (Capparidaceae) including Rocky Mountain Bee-plant (Cleome serrulata).
Remarks
Rather irregular in distribution in eastern North America, not seen every year in many localities, such as Piedmont region of North Carolina.
Can be extremely abundant, sometimes in the Southwest and Great Plains with thousands of individuals swarming flowers and puddles, and even coming to lights at night.
Can seem to disappear for a year or three during extreme drought, only to explode in numbers when rains come.
See Also
Pontia occidentalis (western states only)
Internet References
Butterflies and Moths of North America
Works Cited
1.A Photographic Field Guide to the Butterflies in the Kansas City Region
Betsy Betros. 2008. Kansas City Star Books.
Contributed by Cotinis on 28 April, 2004 - 3:02am
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Maury Heiman, David Ferguson, Robert Lord Zimlich
Last updated 23 March, 2013 - 4:21pm

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