Veined White (Pieris napi)
Pieris, the whites or garden whites, is a widespread now almost cosmopolitan genus of butterflies of the family Pieridae.The highest species diversity is in the Palearctic. Many species of this genus have caterpillars which feed on cabbage and other members of the Brassicaceae. The chemical basis of this association with a certain plant group has been studied for over 100 years, and is now known to occur via a number of biochemical adaptations to chemicals called glucosinolates in these plants. In contrast to most other insects, Pieris caterpillars are able to detoxify these chemicals, and have become so specialised that they will not eat any food without glucosinolates. The Pieris females, in turn, check for the presence of glucosinolates before laying eggs on a plant. The crop-damaging species have spread from Eurasia to most of the rest of the world (most recently to South America and Africa) and are considered pest insects almost everywhere.

The females of many Pieris butterflies are UV reflecting, while the male wings are strongly UV absorbing due to pigments in the scales.[citation needed]

Species and notable subspecies

Arranged alphabetically.

Pieris ajaka Moore, 1865 Kashmir
Pieris angelika Eitschberger, 1983 – Arctic White
Pieris balcana Lorkovic, 1970 – Balkan Green-veined White Southeast Europe
Pieris bowdeni Eitschberger, 1984 Iran, Turkey, Transcaucasia, Kopet-Dagh.
Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus, 1758) – Large (Cabbage) White
Pieris brassicoides Guérin-Méneville, 1849
Pieris bryoniae (Hübner, [1790-1793]) – Dark-veined White or Mountain Green-veined White
Pieris canidia (Sparrman, 1768) – Indian Cabbage White
Pieris cheiranthi (Hübner, 1808) – Canary Islands' Large White
Pieris chumbiensis (de Nicéville, 1884) – Chumbi White
Pieris davidis Oberthür, 1876 West and Central China.
Pieris deota (de Nicéville, 1884) – Kashmir White
Pieris dubernardi Oberthür, 1884 West China
Pieris dulcinea (Butler, 1882) Northeast Korea
Pieris eitschbergeri Lukhtanov, 1996 Kirgisien, Inner-Tienschan may be synonym of Pieris deota (de Nicéville, )
Pieris ergane (Geyer, ) – Mountain Small White
Pieris erutae Poujade, 1888 East Tibet, Yunnan (China)
Pieris euorientis (Verity, 1908) Altai Mountains to Central Yakutia
Pieris extensa Poujade, 1888 West China, Fukien, India
Pieris krueperi Staudinger, 1860 – Krueper's Small White
Pieris krueperi devta (de Nicéville, 1884) – Green-banded White
Pieris lama Sugiyama, 1996 West China
Pieris mahometana (Grum-Grshimailo, 1888) Northeast Afghanistan and Pamirs
Pieris mannii (Mayer, 1851) – Southern Small White
Pieris marginalis Scudder, 1861 – Margined White
Pieris marginalis reicheli Eitschberger, 1983 – Reichel's Margined White
Pieris meckyae Eitschberger, 1983 – Mecky’s White Alaska may be subspecies of Pieris marginalis
Pieris melete Ménétriés, 1857 – Gray-veined White Butterfly North India, and separately in China, Korea and Japan
Pieris naganum Moore, 1884 – Naga White
Pieris napi (Linnaeus, 1758) – Green-veined White or Veined White
Pieris narina (Verity, 1908) Tian-Shan
Pieris nesis Fruhstorfer, 1909 Japan
Pieris ochsenheimeri (Staudinger, 1886) Mountains of Central Asia
Pieris oleracea Harris, 1829 – Mustard White
Pieris oleracea frigida Scudder, 1861 – Newfoundland White
Pieris persis (Verity, 1922) Iran
Pieris pseudorapae (Verity, ) South Europe, Turkey and Iran
Pieris rapae (Linnaeus, 1758) – Small White or (Small) Cabbage White
Pieris steinigeri Eitschberger, 1984 Weihsi (China)
Pieris tadjika Grum-Grshimailo, 1888 Kurdistan
Pieris virginiensis (W.H. Edwards, 1870) – West Virginia White
^ Pieris, funet.fi
^ Pieris, BioLib.cz

source - Wikipedia