Pieris mannii

• Subfamily: Pierinae - Pierini
• Wingspan: 40-45 mm
• Flight period: Mar - Oct
• Spread: Uncommon
• Host plants: Brassicaceae

Information

The Pieris mannii also called Southern Small White is a medium-sized butterfly of the Pieridae family with a wingspan of 40-45 mm. In Europe It is distributed in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux, Czech Republic, Slovakia (uncertain data), Hungary (uncertain data), the Balkan peninsula with Bulgaria and Romania. as the eastern limit. Present throughout Italy including the islands, * even if the data relating to Sardinia are conflicting. ** Typical species of Southern Europe and Morocco, it goes south-east towards Asia Minor up to Syria

The Pieris mannii is very similar to the congener The Pieris rapae (lesser cabbage) both in color and in size, but it differs from it due to the fact that the apical dark band on the upper side of the anterior wing stretches downwards, until it reaches at least the vein CU1. The post-discal spots, present in the area between CU2 and M3 of the upper side of the fore wings, are never circular.***

The Pieris mannii has three or four annual generations, with fluctuations between March and October. Habitats are hot and dry rocky slopes, scree and dry scrub. A certain part of woody flora is important for oviposition. Present in meadows and shrubs from the basal to the mountain level, up to about 1900 m s.l.m. it is not a very common species.

The Pieris mannii has seen drastically decrease its populations due to the overbuilding of the expansion of viticulture which replaces most of the pastures or steppe areas.
Caterpillars are greenish, with dotted yellow bands. It winters as a pupa, even if in some cases it has been observed wintering in the state of larva.

The caterpillars feed on several species of wild Brassicaceae, including: Iberis sempervivum, Alyssoides utriculatum, Iberis saxatilis and Arabis sp.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** IUCN http://www.iucn.it/ does not present it in Sardinia.
*** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/