Madeiran large white
| Madeiran large white butterfly | |
|---|---|
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| Madeiran Large White (female) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Genus: | Pieris |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | †P. b. wollastoni
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| Trinomial name | |
| †Pieris brassicae wollastoni (Butler, 1886)
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| Synonyms | |
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The Madeiran large white (Pieris brassicae wollastoni) was a subspecies of the large white butterfly, endemic to Madeira.[2] It was described by the English entomologist, Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1886.
Description
[edit]They can reach a size of 55 to 65 millimeters (2 to 2.5 inches). The wings are pure white with a wide black tip on the apexes of the forewings. Its natural habitat is the laurisilva laurel forest.[3]
Larvae have yellow stripes on the upper part of the green body and has black lumps. Known food plants are nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea).[4]
Decline
[edit]This butterfly was last collected in 1994, and has not been found since despite a 15-year survey during the 1990s and 2000s.[5] It was officially declared extinct by the IUCN in 2023.[1]
The disappearance of this species coincides with the introduction, in the 1950s, of the small white butterfly (Pieris rapae). The mechanisms involved are not fully understood but a viral infection may be involved with the small white introducing a different strain of the granulosis virus, for which the Madeiran large white had no resistance. [6] Another reason may be the introduction of a widely introduced agricultural bioagent, the wasp parasitoid, Cotesia glomerata, which was found in the western Canary Islands in May 2006. It uses the Pieridae as a host and is commonly found where Pieridae species are in abundance.[7]
Distribution
[edit]Endemic to Madeira and found in the northern valleys of the laurel forest.
Etymology
[edit]The scientific name commemorates Thomas Vernon Wollaston, an English entomologist who has discovered several insect taxa on Madeira.
References
[edit]- ^ a b van Swaay, C., Ellis, S. & Warren, M. (2025). "Pieris wollastoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2025: e.T39483A211437583.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ John Feltwell. Large white butterfly: The Biology, Biochemistry and Physiology of Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus). Springer, 1982 ISBN 90-6193-128-2
- ^ Pieris brassicae wollastoni Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Madeiran Large White Pieris brassicae wollastoni Butler, 1886". Madeira Birdwatching. 19 October 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
- ^ Lewis Smith (3 November 2007). "Man drives butterfly into extinction and it could be bad news for us too". The Times.[dead link]
- ^ Gardiner, B. (2003) The possible cause of extinction of Pieris brassicae wollastoni Butler (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Entomologist's Gazette 54:267–268
- ^ Lozan, Aurel I.; Monaghan, Michael T.; Spitzer, Karel; Jaroš, Josef; Žurovcová, Martina; Brož, Václav (2007-11-24). "DNA-based confirmation that the parasitic wasp Cotesia glomerata (Braconidae, Hymenoptera) is a new threat to endemic butterflies of the Canary Islands". Conservation Genetics. 9 (6): 1431–1437. doi:10.1007/s10592-007-9470-4. S2CID 35335862.
Further reading
[edit]- Holt White, A. E.; Holt White, Rashleigh (ed.) (1894) The butterflies and moths of Teneriffe. Illustrated from the author's drawings. L. Reeve & Co., London