Madeiran Large White

Madeiran Large White Description

A large butterfly mostly white with dark tips and spots on the forewings. Females show the darks spots both on the upper and under sides of the forewings while males only show it on the underparts.

Pieris brassicae wollastoni Caterpillars

Caterpillars are green with black lumps and yellow stripes on the upperpart of its body.

Host & Food Plants

Typical butterfly of Brassicae species (cabbages).
Caterpillars would feed on Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus and Cabbage Brassica oleracea (Wakeham-Dawson, 2001).

Habitat & behaviour

Used to inhabit the North valleys of the Madeira Laurel Forest.

Distribution in the Atlantic Islands of Macaronesia:

The subspecies P. b. wollastoni only occurred in Madeira (Aguiar & Karsholt, 2006)

Status:

Regional status according to Aguiar & Karsholt, 2008: Endemic to Madeira - Extinct taxon
Regional status according to Aguiar & Karsholt, 2006: Endemic subspecies probably extinct
Regional status according to Wakeham-Dawson et al., 2001: Endemic, now probably extinct since mid-1980s
Status according to the European Red List of Butterflies, 2010: Critically Endangered