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A great year to be a cabbage white butterfly: why are there so many and how can you protect your crops?
Published (Version of record)CC BY-ND V4.0, Open
Magazine article
A great year to be a cabbage white butterfly: why are there so many and how can you protect your crops?
The Conversation
07/12/2023
Metrics
30 Record Views
Abstract
Cabbage white butterflies – Pieris rapae – are one of the most common garden visitors across southern and eastern Australia. The butterfly looks elegant in white with black dots on its wings: females have a pair of black spots and males a single spot on each forewing. But their velvety green caterpillars are ravenous beasts on brassicas – the plant family that includes common vegetable crops such as cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, kale and bok choy.
The species was accidentally introduced into Melbourne in 1929 from Europe. Since then, cabbage whites have spread all over Australia, finally reaching Perth in 1943.
Because of their caterpillars’ addiction to eating brassicas, it is one of the most pervasive pests of any crop worldwide. Recent conditions have been favourable, resulting in large numbers of cabbage whites.
One female can lay up to 800 eggs. When they hatch, the caterpillars prefer densely planted hosts in moist, warm habitats. The caterpillars’ biomass can double each day, making them one of the fastest-growing cabbage-feeding caterpillars.
Details
- Title
- A great year to be a cabbage white butterfly: why are there so many and how can you protect your crops?
- Creators
- Nigel Andrew - Southern Cross University, Science
- Publication Details
- The Conversation
- Publisher
- The Conversation Media Group Ltd
- Identifiers
- 991013180412302368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Magazine article