''Pieris virginiensis'', the West Virginia 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 ...

found in North America in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

states, along the Appalachians from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, and in southern

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. They are typically found in moist

deciduous forests In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flo ...

. Forestry, development, and a highly-invasive species that it confuses with its host plant (

Cardamine ''Cardamine'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the mustard family, Brassicaceae, known as bittercresses and toothworts. It contains more than 200 species of annuals and perennials. Species in this genus can be found in diverse habitats w ...

) are causing this species to decline. Two members of the Cardamine genus Cardamine diphyla and Cardamine concatenata are reported to be its host plants in Alabama. Along with the butterfly '' Pieris oleracea'', it is threatened by the invasive weed garlic mustard, ''

Alliaria petiolata ''Alliaria petiolata'', or garlic mustard, is a Biennial plant, biennial flowering plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, north-western Africa, Morocco, Iberian Peninsula, Iberia and the ...

''. The butterflies, having not evolved to be familiar with the plant, confuse it with their host plants. The offspring laid on garlic mustard do not survive. It has translucent whitish wings of length 4.5–5.5 cm; the

hindwing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindw ...

underside has brownish or pale gray scaling along the veins.

Literary references

In line 316 of ''

Pale Fire ''Pale Fire'' is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic co ...

'' by

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

, this butterfly is referenced: “The Toothwort White haunted our woods in May.” The moniker refers to its habit of laying eggs on the toothwort. Pieris virginiensis WV

References

US Geological Survey: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: West Virginia White Butterfly

BugGuide: Species ''Pieris virginiensis'' – West Virginia White

''Pieris''
;Specific virginiensis Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1870 Lepidoptera of Canada Lepidoptera of the United States Taxa named by William Henry Edwards {{Pieridae-stub