Appias drusilla

Appias drusilla, the Florida white or tropical white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in tropical America from Brazil north to southern peninsular Florida and the Florida Keys and Antilles. It frequently visits coastal Texas and is a rare stray to Nebraska and Colorado. The habitat consists of tropical lowland evergreen or semideciduous forests.

Appias drusilla
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pieridae
Genus:	Appias
Species:	A. drusilla
Binomial name
Appias drusilla (Cramer, [1777])
Synonyms
Papilio drusilla Cramer, [1777] Glutophrissa drusilla Pieris ilaire Godart, 1819 Pieris mysia Godart, 1819 Mylothris margarita Hübner, [1819] (nom. nud.) Papilio albunea Dalman, 1823 Mylothris molpadia Hübner, [1823] Mylothris margarita Hübner, [1825] Appias margarita Tachyris janeira Bönninghausen, 1896 Appias drusilla f. nana d'Almeida, 1913 Appias drusilla var. augustiniana Fernández, 1928 Daptonoura laria alba Ribeiro, 1931 Appias drusilla f. minima Breyer, 1939 Papilio castalia Fabricius, 1793 Glutophrissa drusilla jacksoni Kaye, 1920 Appias poeyi Butler, 1872 Appias janeira f. peregrina Röber, 1909 Appias poeyi f. minor Dufrane, 1947 Appias drusilla ab. hollandi Röber, 1908

The wingspan is 53–77 mm (2.1–3.0 in). Males are solid white on both the upper and lower surfaces of the wings except for a narrow edging of black along the forewing costal margin. The female has two forms: the dry-season form is all white and the wet-season form has black along the forewing costal margin and a yellow-orange upper hindwing. The dry-season form is on wing from October to April and the wet-season form from May to September. They feed on flower nectar from a variety of weeds and garden plants including Lantana and Eupatorium.

The larvae feed on Brassicaceae species, including Drypetes lateriflora and Capparis flexuosa in Florida. They are shade loving and feed during the night and on cloudy days.

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognised:

• A. d. drusilla (Peru, Argentina, Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia)
• A. d. castalia (Fabricius, 1793) (Jamaica)
• A. d. poeyi (Butler, 1872) (Cuba)
• A. d. neumoegenii (Skinner, 1894) (Florida)
• A. d. monomorpha Hall, 1936 (Grenada)
• A. d. boydi Comstock, 1943 (Dominican Republic)
• A. d. comstocki Dillon, 1947 (Dominica)
• A. d. tenuis Lamas, 1981 (Peru)

• 
  A. d. castalia, Jamaica

External links

• Data related to Appias drusilla at Wikispecies