Wood white
The wood white is a small, delicate white butterfly with grey or yellow marks near the tips of its wings. It flutters slowly and low over bushes and grass in sunny woodland clearings. It is one of the dainty little whites of Europe.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The female tastes plants with her feet to choose the right one for her eggs.
She likes to lay her eggs on tall plants, in a neat row under a leaf.
Its green caterpillars are so well hidden on their food plant that they are hard to spot.
It has two look-alike cousins that are almost impossible to tell apart just by looking.
In England it is getting rare, because many woods have become too shady for it.
Most asked questions about Wood white
?What does the wood white eat?
The butterflies drink nectar, and the caterpillars eat leaves of plants like meadow vetchling.
?Where does the wood white live?
In sunny clearings and edges of woods, and in meadows, across Europe and Asia.
?Why is the wood white rare in England?
Many woods have grown too shady, and it needs sunny open spots to lay its eggs.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Leptidea sinapis
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Pieridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pieridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Leptidea sinapis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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