Great Southern White

Ascia monuste

The Great Southern White is the only species of butterfly of the genus "Ascia" of the Pieridae family. In this species the sexes may differ with the female being either light or dark colored. It is found from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, south through tropical America to Argentina. Migratory along the south-eastern coast of the United States, with strays to Maryland, Kansas, and Colorado.
Ascia monuste orseis ♂ - Great Southern White / Borboleta-Brancão / Curuquerê-da-Couve (Godart, 1819) Lepidoptera: Bombycina: Papilionoidea: Pieridae: Pierinae: Pierini: Pierina This post's picture was taken on the 20th of May, 2018 at 11:06:04am in Brazil, Ceará, Fortaleza. All other pictures were taken in Brazil, Santa Catarina, Benedito Novo. Other pictures: Female (7th of August, 2017 at 01:27:16pm): https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62873/ascia_monuste_orseis_-_great_southern_white_borboleta-branco_curuquer-da-couve_godart_1819.html Fresh chrysalis (in 2017, I don't remember the exact date): https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62872/ascia_monuste_orseis_fresh_chrysalis_-_great_southern_white_borboleta-branco_curuquer-da-couve_godart_1819.html Old chrysalis (in 2017, I don't remember the exact date): https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62869/ascia_monuste_orseis_old_chrysalis_-_great_southern_white_borboleta-branco_curuquer-da-couve_godart_1819.html Larvae (in 2017, I don't remember the exact date): https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62871/ascia_monuste_orseis_larvae_-_great_southern_white_borboleta-branco_curuquer-da-couve_godart_1819.html Larva again (in 2017, I don't remember the exact date): https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62870/ascia_monuste_orseis_larva_-_great_southern_white_borboleta-branco_curuquer-da-couve_godart_1819.html Ascia monuste (Linnaeus, 1764) is the sole species in the genus Ascia (Scopoli, 1777) with the following subspecies: Ascia monuste monuste (Linnaeus, 1764) (Southern United States to Surinam) Ascia monuste phileta (Fabricius, 1775) (Southwestern USA (strays) (Georgia; Virginia; Florida), Western Mexico & Southern Texas to Northern and South America; Southern Lesser Antilles; West) Ascia monuste virginia (Godart, 1819) (West Indies, St. Vincent) Ascia monuste eubotea (Godart, 1819) (Cuba) Ascia monuste orseis (Godart, 1819) (Brazil, Argentina) Ascia monuste suasa (Boisduval, 1836) (Peru) Ascia monuste automate (Burmeister, 1878) (Argentina) Ascia monuste raza (Klots, 1930) (Baja California Sur) (http://ftp.funet.fi/index/Tree_of_life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/pieridae/pierinae/ascia/) Ascia monuste orseis is a member of the order Lepidoptera, subdivision Bombycina, superfamily Papilionoidea, family Pieridae, subfamily Pierinae, tribe Pierini and subtribe Pierina. Adults are mostly white medium-sized butterflies with brownish apices on the forewings and brownish markings on the posterior edge of the hindwings. A few darkish markings can occasionally be found throughout the wings. The eyes are compound; the antennae are erect, black with a remarkably cyan tip; the beginning of the junction between the hindwings and the lateral of the abdomen has a yellow spot present. Posteriorly to the eyes you can see a yellow marking that resembles an eyebrow. The mouthparts are spiral and long. Dorsal view consists of an uniform white coloring with the brown parts (mentioned before) in their respective positions. The legs are usually white with some individuals displaying darkish markings on them. The head possesses prominent hairs. The subspecies possess sexual dimorphism; about midway through the costal margin of the forewings, females possess a down-curving black stripe. Males lack this. The subject portrayed is a male. Although the stripe is a bit faded in this specimen (wait for better pictures in the future), this is a female: https://flic.kr/p/28zW319 A few host plants to the caterpillars include Eruca sativa (Mill.) (Brassicaceae), Cakile maritima (Giovanni Antonio Scopoli) (Brassicaceae: Brassiceae), Gossypium sp. (L.) (Malvaceae), Manihot sp. (Euphorbiaceae) Glycine max (L. Merrill) (Fabaceae: Faboideae), Lepidium sp. (L.) (Brassicaceae: Brassicoideae: Lepidieae), Nasturtium sp. (W.T. Aiton) (Brassicaceae: ???), Zea mays (L.) (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Maydeae), Nicotiana sp. (L.) (Solanaceae: Nicotianoideae: Nicotianeae), Lactuca sativa (L.) (Asteraceae), Oryza sp. (L.) (Poaceae: Oryzoideae: Oryzeae: Oryzinae), Brassica oleracea "Italica" (L.) (Brassicaceae), Brassica oleracea "Capitata" (L.) (Brassicaceae), Brassica oleracea "Botrytis" (L.) (Brassicaceae), Raphanus sativus (L.) (Brassicaceae), Saccharum sp. (L.) (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Sacchareae), Arachis hypogaea (L.) (Fabaceae: Faboideae: Dalbergieae), Triticum sp. (L.) (Poaceae: Pooideae), Brassica napus (L.), Brassica rapa (L.) & Brassica juncea ((L.) Czern.) (Brassicaceae), Passiflora sp. (L.) (Passifloraceae: Passifloroideae: Passifloreae), Solanum tuberosum (L.) (Solanaceae: Solanoideae: Solaneae - Requires confirmation), Sinapis alba (L.) Brassicaceae and possibly many more; however, their preferred food option are Brassicaceae. The adults feed on the nectar of a great amount of flowers such as some, most or all Amaranthaceae, perhaps Batis sp., Lantana sp. (L.) (Verbenaceae) (not restricted to Lantana camara (L.)), Verbena sp. (L.) (Verbenaceae), Cuphea gracilis (Kunth) (Lythraceae: Lythroideae) and possibly many more. The adults are attracted to glycosinolates present in the family Brassicaceae and land on these plants to oviposit the eggs. Eggs are laid in different parts of the plant and this depends on the host. An average of 43 eggs are laid at a time, but can reach an astounding amount of 245 or more, with these being laid individually or in clusters. The larvae feed on the chorion as their first food upon hatching and also the eggs, suggestively due to protein intake. Cannibalism may occur on plants on which the eggs were oviposited that already supported conspecifics. As such, they are not strictly herbivorous. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascia#cite_note-7) The very high metabolism and growth rates of the larvae require proteins, partially explaining the aforementioned behaviour. Cannibalism may occur with larvae consuming eggs from the same clutch or others on the same leaf. Evolutionarily speaking, this is an opportunistic behaviour and can increase fitness. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascia#cite_note-8) "Eggs take from 4-5 days to develop under field conditions and 3.4 days under laboratory conditions. Larvae to pupae ranges between subspecies from 11.0-17.4 days for the first five instars for A. m. orseis, and 6.1-9.56 days for A. m. monuste. Pupation can take from 5.9-10 days long, and adults can live from 4.3-5 days for males and 8-10 days for females." - (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascia) The larvae do not move much and are not urticarious, as known with butterfly larvae. They mostly stay restricted to the plant they were laid on, but are more mobile after the 5th instar, proceeding to be able to move to other >close< plants. First and second instars do not tend to compete due to the lack of need for consumption. This may change during the final three instars. Two longitudinal stripes of a greenish-yellow coloring can be visible on each side of the dorso along with multiple black dots and short hairs. The head capsule is orange with black spots, green or even close to black depending on the instar. The larvae are purplish-green and measure around 6.35mm. The adults are highly migratory and moves in a single direction within their life without ever returning. They can be found in primary and secondary forests where their host plants can be found. They are very commonly seen in suburban and urban habitats, and fields, crop fields and weedy areas. Adults have a wingspan ranging between 63-86mm. Fresh chrysalis: https://flic.kr/p/Kkik96 Old chrysalis, close to emergence: https://flic.kr/p/27YS7iC Larvae: https://flic.kr/p/LRB7Fs Larva again: https://flic.kr/p/LRB7fN Sources: http://www.defesavegetal.net/ascmo http://www.manejebem.com.br/doenca/praga-curuquere-da-couve-ascia-monuste-orseis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascia http://www.agrolink.com.br/problemas/lagarta-da-couve_304.html https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borboleta-brancão http://eol.org/search?q=ascia+monuste I do not agree with the term "pest" nor with the intentions behind some of the sources above. This was purely to illustrate as sources. Animalia,Arthropoda,Ascia monuste,Ascia monuste orseis,Brazil,Butterfly,Fall,Geotagged,Great Southern White,Insecta,Insects,Lepidoptera,Papilionoidea,Pieridae,Pierina,Pierinae,Pierini,Rhophalocera,South America,insect

Appearance

The wingspan is 63–86 mm. Adults are on wing all year round in southern Texas, peninsular Florida and along the Gulf Coast.
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Naming

*"Ascia monuste monuste"
⤷ "Ascia monuste phileta"
⤷ "Ascia monuste virginia"
⤷ "Ascia monuste eubotea"
⤷ "Ascia monuste orseis"
⤷ "Ascia monuste suasa"
⤷ "Ascia monuste automate"
⤷ "Ascia monuste raza"

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyPieridae
GenusAscia
SpeciesA. monuste
Photographed in
Brazil
Trinidad and Tobago
United States of America
Venezuela