''Leptosia'', commonly called wood whites, is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

pierid The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia.DeVries P. J. in Le ...

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. It is the only genus of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Leptosiaini. ''Leptosia'' are found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, except for ''

Leptosia nina ''Leptosia nina'', the psyche, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae (the sulphurs, yellows and whites) and is found in Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia and Australia. The upper forewing has a black spot on a mainly white background. The ...

'', which ranges from India to Australia, and '' Leptosia lignea'', which is found only on

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

. All have a frail appearance and broad rounded wings. They are only distantly related to the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

wood whites ''

Leptidea ''Leptidea'' is a genus of butterflies of family Pieridae, the whites and yellows. They live in Europe and Asia. The genus contains the following species: *''Leptidea amurensis'' Ménétriés, 1859 *''Leptidea darvazensis'' Bolshakov, 2004 Cen ...

'' (Dismorphiinae).

Species

Listed alphabetically:''Leptosia''
funet.fi *''

Leptosia alcesta ''Leptosia alcesta'', the African wood white or flip flop, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae, found in Africa. The wingspan is 30–40 mm in males and 35–42 mm in females. The adults fly year-round, peaking from March to May. T ...

'' (Stoll,

782 __NOTOC__ Year 782 ( DCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 782 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in ...

– African wood white or flip flop (Sub-Saharan Africa) *'' Leptosia bastini'' Hecq, 1997 *'' Leptosia hybrida'' Bernardi, 1952 – hybrid wood white (western Africa) *'' Leptosia lignea'' (Vollenhoven, 1865) – (endemic to Sulawesi) *'' Leptosia marginea'' (Mabille, 1890) – black-edged spirit (western Africa) *'' Leptosia medusa'' (Cramer,

777 777 may refer to: * 777 (number), a number * AD 777, a year of the Julian calendar * 777 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 777, a commercial jet airliner :* Boeing 777X, the newer generation of the Boeing 777. Art and entertainment Alb ...

– dainty spirit (western Africa) *''

'' (Fabricius, 1793) – Psyche (Southeast Asia to Australia) *'' Leptosia nupta'' (Butler, 1873) – immaculate wood white (western Africa) *'' Leptosia wigginsi'' (Dixey, 1915) – opaque wood white (central Africa)

References

External links

Images representing ''Leptosia''
at

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

Pieridae genera Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Pieridae-stub