''Pontia daplidice'', the Bath white, is a small

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 ...

of 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 ...

, the yellows and whites, which occurs in the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

region. It is common in central and southern Europe, migrating northwards every summer, often reaching southern

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

and sometimes southern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Description

* The Bath white is a small white butterfly with a wingspan of 45 to 50 mm. The underside of the hindwing has a pattern of greenish blotches, which is characteristic of the Bath whites and easily identifies it from other pierids. * Sexes can be differentiated by markings on the forewing. The male is differentiated from the female by the markings on the upperside of the forewing. The apex of the forewing is black with white spots and lines. There is a black spot at the end of the cell. In the case of the female, there is an additional discal spot in 1b. The female also has an obscure row of terminal and marginal spots on the upper hindwing. Britishentomologyvolume5Plate48

:*Description from C. T. Bingham in ''

The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma ''The Fauna of British India'' (short title) with long titles including ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma'', and ''The Fauna of British India Including the Remainder of the Oriental Region'' is a series of scientific books t ...

'', "Butterflies Volume 2" (1907). :::* Male: Upperside: white. Forewing: basal half of costa narrowly irrorated with black scales, a broad irregular quadrate black spot over the discocellulars; apex and termen anteriorly, above vein 3 broadly black, with a subterminal series of spots of the ground colour, prolonged as fine lines to the terminal margin. Hindwing: uniform, the markings on the underside showing faintly through; a costal spot before the apex, and in some specimens, some obscure, anterior terminal markings indicated by irrorated black scaling. Underside: white. Forewing: the form of the markings as on the upperside but the base of the cell with an irroration of green scales, the black discocellular spot extended to the costa, often washed with green or with a green centre to the black; the apical patch green not black, with the spots of the ground colour on it ill-defined and obscure; a black or greenish-black spot in the outer half of interspace 1. Hindwing: green; costal margin at base yellow; dorsal margin white; a spot in middle of cell, another above it in interspace 7, a curved irregular discal series of conjoined spots beyond the cell, of which the upper two spots in interspaces 1 to 6, white; the veins sometimes faintly yellow. Antennae dusky-black; head, thorax and abdomen fuscous black; beneath; head, thorax and abdomen white. :::* Female: Upperside: differs as follows: Forewing: a dusky-black streak extends from the base along costa and terminates at the black spot on the discocellulars; a transverse, somewhat quadrate black spot in the outer half of interspace 1, with sometimes a short ill-defined black streak below it; the black area on apex and anterior portion of termen broader, the white spots on it blurred and obscure. Hindwing: a large costal black spot before apex; a broad, black, subterminal, inwardly diffuse, curved band in continuation of the same, and a terminal series of clavate black marks that start from the outer margin of the black subterminal band. Underside: markings much as in the male but broader. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male. :::* Wingspan: 52–56 mm (MHNT) Pontia daplidice - St Foy d'Aigrefeuille - France - female dorsal.jpg, ''Pontia daplidice'' ♀ (MHNT) Pontia daplidice - St Foy d'Aigrefeuille - France - female ventral.jpg, ''Pontia daplidice''♀ △

Distribution and habitat

This butterfly is common in central and southern Europe, Asia Minor, Persia and Afghanistan, migrating northwards in the summer. In Central Asia, the Bath white ranges from

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

Chitral Chitral () is a city situated on the Kunar River, Chitral River in northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Lower Chitral District, and was previously the capital of Chitral District, and before ...

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

and along the Himalayas right across the Central Himalayas up to

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

. The butterfly appears to be extending its range westwards along the Himalayas. It is usually found on dry slopes and rough ground with little vegetation.

Host plants

The host plants of the larvae are in the family

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important Family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous pla ...

and vary according to locality. They include tower mustard (''Arabis glabra'') and

sea rocket ''Cakile'' is a genus within the flowering plant family Brassicaceae. Species in this genus are commonly known as searockets, though this name on its own is applied particularly to whatever member of the species is native or most common in the ...

(''Cakile maritima'').

Taxonomy

The following subspecies are recognised: *''Pontia daplidice daplidice'' (Mauritania, northern Niger, northern Chad, France, south-western Europe, North Africa) *''Pontia daplidice laenas'' (Fruhstorfer, 1908) (Palestinian territories) *''Pontia daplidice aethiops'' (de Joannis & Verity, 1913) (highlands of Ethiopia, south-western Arabia, Near East, Afghanistan) *''Pontia daplidice moorei'' (Roeber, 1907) (Jammu & Kashmir to N.E. India, Yunnan) Pontia daplidice larva.jpg, Caterpillar Bath white (Pontia daplidice laenas).jpg, ''P. d. laenas'',

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Bath white (Pontia daplidice laenas) underside.jpg, ''P. d. laenas'',

Bath white (Pontia daplidice laenas) mating.jpg, ''P. d. laenas'' mating,

DJ001 Pontia daplidice UN.jpg, ''P. d. moorei'',

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pontia daplidice close-up side view.jpg, Close-up side view Bath white butterfly.jpg, Couple of Bath white butterfly

Habitat

The butterfly lives in the Mediterranean coastal dunes, on rocky, hot slopes etc.

Pinned specimen from 1702

The Hope Entomological Collection in the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the univers ...

contains a specimen of this species dating from 1702, which is the oldest pinned entomological specimen still on its original pin in existence.

Notes

References

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q311653 daplidice Butterflies of Africa Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Europe Lepidoptera of Cape Verde Butterflies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus