Cabbage White butterfly Pieris rapae. White butterfly. Insect. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright © 2024 Now I Wonder. All rights reserved.

Complete Guide To The Cabbage White Butterfly

ByChristine Species Guides

Cabbage White Butterfly

Cabbage White Butterfly Images

How To Identify Cabbage White Butterflies

  • Wingspan: 1.25 – 1.9 inches (3.1 – 4.8 cm)
  • Above:
    • Both fore wings and hind wings are white and tipped with faint charcoal gray.
    • Fore wings are dotted with at least one black spot.
    • The number of black wing spots vary by sex:
      • Males have one wing spot.
      • Females have two wing spots.
  • Below:
    • Color ranges from white to yellow.
    • Both sexes have only one black wing spot on the underside of their fore wings.
    • Hind wings are unmarked on both sexes.
  • The markings on early spring individuals may be paler than those seen on adults later in the flight season (Glassberg 1999).

How to Find Cabbage White Butterflies

  • Flight Season: Adults fly throughout the summer months, starting after the last hard frost in the spring and up to the first hard frost in the fall.
    • Usually early March through late November.
  • Cabbage White butterflies have three or more broods per season (Pyle 1981).
  • Look for Cabbage White butterflies in almost every habitat in North Carolina that is both sunny and contains plants in flower; they are both widely distributed and abundant.
    • They are especially easy to find in home gardens planted with Mustard family plants, including:
      • Cabbage
      • Broccoli
      • Cauliflower
      • Brussels sprouts
      • Kale
    • This species has the distinction of being one of the very few butterfly pests; its bright green caterpillars feed on cruciferous plants, such as broccoli and cabbage.
  • Cabbage White butterflies fly well but erratically and often swerve around.
    • They tend to fly higher than many butterflies when traveling from flower to flower.
    • They are easy to observe when they land but don’t stay perched for long; they feed quickly, then fly off to the next bloom.

Cabbage White Butterfly Classification

  • Formerly named Artogeia rapae.

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Pieridae

Genus

Pieris

Species

P. rapae

Binomial Name

Pieris rapae

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Christine
Christine is the creator and author of NowIWonder.com, a website dedicated to the animals and plants that share our world, and the science that helps us understand them. Inspired by lifelong exploration and learning, Christine loves to share her knowledge with others who want to connect with wild faces and wild spaces.
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