margined white ~ 02/16/14 ~ Los Padres Dam

female margined white / grey-veined white

female Pieris marginalis venosa (aka Pieris napi venosa)

 male margined white nectaring on California milkmaids

nectaring on Cardamine californica
Brassicaceae

Check out the cool yellow "shoulder" in the first pic above.  I'm so glad we finally found the macro setting on our ol' camera!  A small patch of milkmaids near the water was a very popular nectaring spot, being visited by butterflies, bee flies, and honey bees. There's not much in bloom, so it's worth noting that just down the way the patch of western coltsfoot had no visitors.

I also spotted margined whites at Stevens Creek last week, which at first sight I knew were related to cabbage whites (look at that dot on the male), but second guessed myself when I went to look for an ID.  I've totally missed the margined white ID before based on the fact I rely heavily on two quick references which omit entirely or misrepresent the early spring, first brood, bold version that I find in the area.  The summer brood is apparently almost all white.  It doesn't help that there doesn't seem to be much consensus on the Pieris "napi" complex.  I need to add notations to my field guides, so I can remember this for next time.

margined white ~ 04/07/13 ~ Garland Ranch

female  margined white / grey-veined white
female Pieris marginalis venosa (aka Pieris napi venosa)

edited 05/11/13 - Phew!  After a failed quick search of my go-to favorites for butterfly IDs, I cheated and asked Dr. Art Shapiro from UC Davis.  Once you know the spring generation has dark veins and the summer generation is almost all white, this is a fairly easy butterfly to distinguish.  Then, tracking down its currently correct name is a bugger. I'm using Butterflies of America in the first scientific name link above, because they seem the most anal about names. However, Art does not believe most of the CA populations are conspecific with P. marginalis and maintains the P. napi complex (mustard whites) remains uncertain.

Years ago, I was fortunate enough to have been a museum intern and later a research assistant for Dr. Sonja Teraguchi in the first establishment years of Ohio's Long-term Monitoring of Butterflies.  My fondest memories of Ohio are from butterfly outings and workshops with Sonja, various museum volunteers, and The Ohio Lepidopterists. That experience helped create and shape Nature ID. I was aware the program was partially based on the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, but until I started this blog, I didn't know Art has been doing it since 1972. As an ulterior motive for contacting Dr. Shapiro, I've been wanting to go out with him during one of his butterfly walks for the past handful of years. I've dropped the ball, repeatedly... but not this year. Now, we're tentatively set to go to his Washington site in Nevada County next Tuesday.  I'm looking forward to meeting him and learning from a butterfly master.