Belenois

Belongs within: Pieridae.

Belenois, the caper whites, is a genus of butterflies found in the Old World tropics whose caterpillars feed on species of Capparaceae. The fore wing has veins Sc and R₁ united midway and running as a single vein to the costa (Braby 2000).

Caterpillars and their capers

Published 18 January 2010

Belenois is a genus of about thirty species of butterfly of the family Pieridae found in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, with the greatest concentration of species in Africa. The caterpillars feed on plants of the caper family Capparaceae, though Moulds (1999) suggested that early records of ‘cabbage whites’ feeding on Brassica species in Australia prior to the confirmed introduction of any Pieris species might refer to Belenois java (the families Capparaceae and Brassicaceae are very closely related). Like most other pierids, Belenois species are medium-sized butterflies (the sole Australian species, B. java, has a wingspan of 55 mm—Braby 2000) with white or yellow background coloration patterned with black or brown on the wings. Individuals of a single species may vary in coloration patterns. Studies on B. java teutonia, which has distinct dark and pale forms, found that larval food species was one factor potentially affecting variation—caterpillars raised on Capparis umbonata always emerged from their pupae as dark form individuals, caterpillars from C. lasiantha were always pale, while caterpillars from C. spinosa could be either dark or pale (Braby 2000).

Migratory habits have been recorded for a number of Belenois species, particularly B. java in Australia and B. aurota in southern Africa. Belenois aurota is one of the most abundant butterfly species within its range—one observer recorded witnessing a migration of about 500,000 individuals in Lesotho (Kopij 2006). A number of females will lay their eggs together in loose clusters on a suitable host plant. Braby (2000) notes that in some seasons a single tree may carry tens of thousands of eggs of B. java and the tree may end up being completely defoliated by the voracious caterpillars. Mortality among the caterpillars is high; only a few will reach adulthood.

Systematics of Belenois

<==Belenois Hübner 1819B00
    |--B. calypso (Drudy 1773) [=Pieris calypso]F55
    |    |--B. c. calypsoF55
    |    `--B. c. dentigera Butler 1888F55
    |--B. java (Linnaeus 1768) [=Anaphaeis java]B00
    |    |--B. j. javaB12
    |    |--B. j. micronesiaPP02
    |    |--B. j. peristhene (Boisduval 1859)B00
    |    `--B. j. teutonia (Fabricius 1775)B12 [=Anaphaeis java teutoniaN91]
    |--B. margaritaceaB01
    |--B. mesentinaB01
    |--B. severina [incl. B. severina var. infida]B01
    |--B. solilucis (Butler 1874) (see below for synonymy)F55
    |--B. subeida [incl. Pieris subeida var. schweinfurthi Schultze 1914, B. subeida f. schweinfurthi]F55
    |--B. theora (Doubleday 1846) [=Pieris theora]F55
    |--B. theuszi (Dewitz 1889) [=Pieris theuszi]F55
    |--B. thysaB01
    |--B. westwoodiB01
    `--B. zochaliaB01

Belenois solilucis (Butler 1874) [=Pieris solilucis; incl. P. solilucis var. subornata Schultze 1914, Belenois solilucis f. subornata]^F55

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[B00] Braby, M. F. 2000. Butterflies of Australia: their identification, biology and distribution vol. 1. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood (Victoria).

[B12] Braby, M. F. 2012. The butterflies of El Questro Wilderness Park, with remarks on the taxonomy of the Kimberley fauna, Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 27 (2): 161–175.

[B01] Butler, A. G. 1901. An account of a collection of butterflies obtained by Lord Delamere, chiefly at Munisu, near Mount Kenya. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 197–203.

[F55] Franz, E. 1955. Die Typen und Typoide des Natur-Museums Senckenberg, 16). Insecta, Lepidoptera, Pieridae. Senckenbergiana Biologica 36: 339–367.

Kopij, J. 2006. Lepidoptera fauna of Lesotho. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 49B (1–2): 137–180.

Moulds, M. S. 1999. The history of Australian butterfly research and collecting. In: Kitching, R. L., et al. (eds) Biology of Australian Butterflies pp. 1–24. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood (Australia).

[N91] Norris, K. R. 1991. General biology. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 68–108. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[PP02] Patrick, B., & H. Patrick. 2002. Butterflies of Fiji. Weta 24: 5–12.