Cabbage White - Pieris rapae

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Cabbage White - Pieris rapae

[Public Domain] 27 Mar 2004 Dylan O'Donnell
CATEGORY : Species
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A european butterfly, the Cabbage White made it’s way to various part of the world including the USA, Canada and Australia and in all these places has become very common and widespread, adapting well to living side by side with humans and the monocultures they produce. Initially imported with cabbage, the Cabbage White butterfly has a taste for many plants in a “european” garden, ironically typical in Australia.

Males court the females by circling them and can be rejected outright by the female, who simply sits with wings spread and raise their abdomens at a very severe angle, making it probably very difficult to copulate with them. I photographed this behaviour today.

Despite this effective form of gene control, they are everywhere. It is possible to say that they are competing with other native species of butterfly, but this is not neccessarily true since we have created an ideal environment for this particular species with european ornamental plants and agricultral practices.

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