Stats

Lifespan

3-6 weeks

Size

Medium

Diet

Herbivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate grassland

Range

Eurasia and North Africa

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Warning Colors

Status

Common

About

The Large White is one of Europe's most widespread butterflies, notorious for its caterpillars stripping entire brassica crops — a single female can lay up to 100 eggs in one batch on a cabbage leaf. Adults are recognised by their chalk-white wings with bold black wingtip patches.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
2. 2.
   caterpillar

   A voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
3. 3.
   chrysalis

   A chrysalis hangs sealed and still while the body remodels into a winged adult.
4. 4.
   butterfly

   A winged adult with full scales and coloration, ready to fly and mate.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Pieridae

Genus

Pieris

Species

Pieris brassicae