Pontia

Pontia is a genus of pierid butterflies. They are found in the Holarctic, but are rare in Europe and central to eastern North America, and a few species range into the Afrotropics. Several East Asian species once placed here are now more often split off in Sinopieris. Like the closely related genus Pieris, they are commonly called whites.

Pontia
Pontia edusa edusa on Knautia arvensis near Antsiferovo, Moscow Oblast, Russia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pieridae
Tribe:	Pierini
Genus:	Pontia Fabricius, 1807
Species
Around a dozen, see text
Synonyms
Mancipium Hübner, [1807] Synchloe Hübner, 1818 Mancipium Stephens, 1828 Parapieris de Nicéville, 1897 Leucochloë Röber, [1907] Leucochloe Röber, [1907] Pontieuchloia Verity, 1929

Species

Listed alphabetically:

• Pontia beckerii (Edwards, 1871) – Becker's white, Great Basin white, or sagebrush white
• Pontia callidice (Hübner, 1799-1800) – peak white
• Pontia chloridice (Hübner, 1808-1813) – small Bath white
• Pontia daplidice (Linnaeus, 1758) – Bath white
• Pontia distorta (Butler, 1886) – small meadow white
• Pontia edusa (Fabricius, 1777) - eastern Bath white
• Pontia glauconome (Klug, 1829) – desert (Bath) white
• Pontia helice (Linnaeus, 1764) – meadow white
• Pontia occidentalis (Reakirt, 1866) – western white
• Pontia protodice (Boisduval & Le Conte, 1830) – checkered white
• Pontia sisymbrii (Boisduval, 1852) – spring white, California white, or Colorado white

Some other species are occasionally placed here, but alternatively in other genera. Pontia extensa may belong in Pieris, while a number of other species from the China region are often split off in Sinopieris:

• Pontia davidis (Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan)
• Pontia dubernardi (Gansu, Nanshan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan)
• Pontia kozlovi (Xinjiang)
• Pontia sherpae (Nepal)
• Pontia stoetzneri (Sichuan, Yunnan)
• Pontia venata (Ta-chien-lu, at altitude 3000 m)

External links

• Images representing Pontia at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• Eurobutterflies

Further reading

• Glassberg, Jeffrey Butterflies through Binoculars, The West (2001)
• Guppy, Crispin S. and Shepard, Jon H. Butterflies of British Columbia (2001)
• James, David G. and Nunnallee, David Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies (2011)
• Pelham, Jonathan Catalogue of the Butterflies of the United States and Canada (2008)
• Pyle, Robert Michael The Butterflies of Cascadia (2002)

External links

• Butterflies and Moths of North America
• Butterflies of America