''Pieris brassicoides'', the Ethiopian cabbage white, is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family (biology), family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from Afrotropical realm, tropical Africa and Indomalayan realm, tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern ...

. It is found in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

.Afrotropical Butterflies: File D – Pieridae - Subtribe Pierina
/ref> The habitat consists of montane areas. The larvae feed on ''

Tropaeolum majus ''Tropaeolum majus'', the garden nasturtium, nasturtium, Indian cress or monk's cress, is a species of flowering plant in the family Tropaeolaceae, originating in the Andes from Bolivia north to Colombia. An easily-grown annual or short-lived p ...

'' and ''

Brassica napus Rapeseed (''Brassica napus'' subsp. ''napus''), also known as rape and oilseed rape and canola, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturall ...

''. ''

Pieris rapae ''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 as the cabbage white or cabbage butterfly, on several continents as the small ca ...

'' is one of the closest relatives of this family.

Subspecies

There are two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

: *''Pieris brassicoides brassicoides'' Guérin-Méneville, 1849 – highlands of Ethiopia above 2,000 meters, common *''Pieris brassicoides marghanita'' Hemming, 1941 – northern Tanzania above 2,000 meters, rare

References

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 12
brassicoides Butterflies of Africa Lepidoptera of Kenya Lepidoptera of Tanzania Butterflies described in 1849 Taxa named by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville {{Pieridae-stub