Fluturat e Shqipërisë
Butterflies of Albania

Sylvain Cuvelier =
Anila Paparisto =

Last update: 05.viii.2023

Leptidea sinapis / Wood White
Flutura e mustardës
Pieridae - Dismorphinae

Leptidea sinapis (Linnaeus, 1758) TL: Sweden.

1a. Leptidea sinapis, distribution map. Historical data ; Additional data from the 2018 update ; New observations since the 2018 update.
1b. Leptidea sinapis ♀ underside. Greece (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1c. Leptidea sinapis courtship. Romania (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1d. Leptidea sinapis ♂. Albania (© Anila Paparisto)

Description
♂♂
Small butterfly. Fw: 19-24 mm.
Ups: white gc.
Upf: large grey angular marking (spring generation) not extending along the cost, smaller black apical mark (summer generation)
Unh: marked obscure dark markings (spring generation), markings very limited often plain white (summer generation)
Antennal club: black with white patch beneath.
♀♀
Similar size.
Upf: apical marking pale grey striae (spring generation) or absent (summer generation)
Otherwise identical to ♂♂.

Similar species

Leptidea duponcheli Antenna: no white mark beneath the club. Upf: yellowish gc. Uph: yellowish gc. Unf: black costa. Unh: extensive grey markings (spring) Unh: yellowish flush/absent markings (summer) Leptidea juvernica There are no reliable external characters for identification between Leptidea juvernica and Leptidea sinapis (url) ♂♂ and ♀♀ genitalia are discriminating (url1, url2) COI-barcoding allows identification.

Life cycle
Adults: two or three generations (depending on altitude) from April to September.
Egg: 5-10 days.
Caterpillar: 18-33 days.
Pupa: 9-15 days, long in case of overwintering attached to a stalk or a herb.

Habitat
Leptidea sinapis inhabits wooded glades, clearings in dry to mesophilous grassland up to 2000 m a.s.l. and can be found in the vicinity of L. juvernica.
Spatial requirement low, population density sometimes high.

Foodplants
Caterpillars feed on Lotus sp. and Lathyrus sp., also mentioned are Coronilla varia, Medicago sativa falcata and Viccia sp.
Butteflies feed on a variety of low flowers.

Distribution
Albania: widespread.
Balkan: AL - BG - BIH - GR - HR - NMK - MNE - RKS - RO - SLO - SRB
Europe: IB - IT - ALP - BAL - NWE - UK - SCA - EEU
Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Caucasus and further east.

Conservation status
Leptidea sinapis is not endangered.
Albanian Red List: NE.
IUCN Red List, category at the Mediterranean level: LC.

Useful links
Bink 2015
Pyrgus.de
Lepiforum
(url) Dincă V., Lukhtanov V., Talavera G. & Vila R. 2011. Unexpected layers of cryptic diversity in Wood White Leptidea butterflies. — Nature Communications 2: 324.
(url1, url2) Shtinkov N., Kolev Z., Vila R. & Dincă V. 2015. The sibling species Leptidea juvernica and L. sinapis (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) in the Balkan Peninsula: ecology, genetic structure, and morphological variation. — Zoology.
(url) Cuvelier S. & Maertens D. 2017. Trial test of external morphology-based identification of Leptidea sinapis, L. reali and L. juvernica (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) provides opportunity for an online identification platform. — Phegea 45(2): 41-45.

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