| Kashmir White | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Genus: | Pieris |
| Species: | P. deota |
| Binomial name | |
| Pieris deota (de Nicéville, 1884) |
|
Kashmir White (Pieris deota) is a small butterfly of the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, which is found in India, Pakistan, Tibet and central Asia. It is found in the NW Himalayas in Ladakh at 760 m (2,500 ft). in Tibet and the Pamirs, at altitudes of 3700–4300 m (12,300 -14,200 ft).
Closely resembles Pieris brassicae, from which it differs as follows:
Male has the upper forewing with inner margin of the black area on apex and termen not smoothly curved but sinuate ; an elongate narrow black spot, sometimes faint and ill-defined but always traceable, in interspace 3. Hind wing : termen edged by a narrow continuous black band that extends from the black costal spot to the middle of interspace 3. Underside, fore wing : apex and upper portion of termen ashy-brown (by reason of the black on the upperside that shows through by transparency), thickly irrorated with black scales ; besides the black spots in interspaces 1 and 3 present as in P. brassicae, there is a third black spot from middle of interspace 5 to vein 7 that extends above the latter vein diffusely to the costa. Hind wing: as in P. brassicae but the ground-colour not so yellow ; the black terminal band of the upperside can be seen through faintly by transparency ; the black subcostal spot as in P. brassicce, with a second black spot in interspace 3.
Female has the upperside as in the female of P. brassicae, but as in the male of its own form, the inner margin of the black area at apex and on termen of fore wing not smoothly curved but sinuate. Hind wing : a black terminal band like that in the cT but broader and divided by the white veins into a series of inwardly diffuse subquadrate spots ; a small black spot in interspace 3, another in interspace 5, the latter joined to the subcostal black spot which is particularly large and prominent. Underside as in the male.[1]