Pontia daplidice, the Bath white, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, the yellows and whites, which occurs in the Palearctic region. It is common in central and southern Europe, migrating northwards every summer, often reaching southern Scandinavia and sometimes southern England.
Description
- The Bath white is a small white butterfly with a wingspan of 45 to 50 mm. The underside of the hindwing has a pattern of greenish blotches, which is characteristic of the Bath whites and easily identifies it from other pierids.
- Sexes can be differentiated by markings on the forewing. The male is differentiated from the female by the markings on the upperside of the forewing. The apex of the forewing is black with white spots and lines. There is a black spot at the end of the cell. In the case of the female, there is an additional discal spot in 1b. The female also has an obscure row of terminal and marginal spots on the upper hindwing.
thumb|right|200px|Illustration from [[John Curtis (entomologist)|John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5]]
:*Description from C. T. Bingham in The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma, "Butterflies Volume 2" (1907).
:::* Male: Upperside: white. Forewing: basal half of costa narrowly irrorated with black scales, a broad irregular quadrate black spot over the discocellulars; apex and termen anteriorly, above vein 3 broadly black, with a subterminal series of spots of the ground colour, prolonged as fine lines to the terminal margin. Hindwing: uniform, the markings on the underside showing faintly through; a costal spot before the apex, and in some specimens, some obscure, anterior terminal markings indicated by irrorated black scaling. Underside: white. Forewing: the form of the markings as on the upperside but the base of the cell with an irroration of green scales, the black discocellular spot extended to the costa, often washed with green or with a green centre to the black; the apical patch green not black, with the spots of the ground colour on it ill-defined and obscure; a black or greenish-black spot in the outer half of interspace 1. Hindwing: green; costal margin at base yellow; dorsal margin white; a spot in middle of cell, another above it in interspace 7, a curved irregular discal series of conjoined spots beyond the cell, of which the upper two spots in interspaces 1 to 6, white; the veins sometimes faintly yellow. Antennae dusky-black; head, thorax and abdomen fuscous black; beneath; head, thorax and abdomen white.
Host plants
The host plants of the larvae are in the family Brassicaceae and vary according to locality. They include tower mustard (Arabis glabra) and sea rocket (Cakile maritima).
<gallery mode = packed heights = 130px>
Pontia daplidice larva.jpg|Caterpillar
Bath white (Pontia daplidice laenas).jpg|P. d. laenas, Jordan
Bath white (Pontia daplidice laenas) underside.jpg|P. d. laenas, Jordan
Bath white (Pontia daplidice laenas) mating.jpg|P. d. laenas mating, Jordan
DJ001 Pontia daplidice UN.jpg|P. d. moorei, India
Pontia daplidice close-up side view.jpg|Close-up side view
Bath white butterfly.jpg|Couple of Bath white butterfly
</gallery>
Habitat
The butterfly lives in the Mediterranean coastal dunes, on rocky, hot slopes etc.
Pinned specimen from 1702
The Hope Entomological Collection in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History contains a specimen of this species dating from 1702, which is the oldest pinned entomological specimen still on its original pin in existence.