Pieris rapae (cabbage white butterfly)
Identity
- Preferred Scientific Name
- Pieris rapae Linnaeus
- Preferred Common Name
- cabbage white butterfly
- Other Scientific Names
- Artogeia rapae Linnaeus
- Ascia rapae Linnaeus
- Mancipium rapae Linnaeus
- Papilio rapae Linnaeus
- Pontia rapae Linnaeus
- International Common Names
- Englishcabbage butterflycabbage white (England)common cabbage wormcommon whiteimported cabbagewormrape white butterflysmall cabbage whitesmall garden whitesmall white butterfly
- Spanishblanquita de la colgusano de las hojas de hortalizamariposa blanca de la colmariposa pequena de la colmariposita blanca de la col (mexico)
- Frenchchenille du chouxpetit, papillon, blanc du choupiéride de la ravepiéride du choupiéride du chou
- Local Common Names
- Denmarklille kalsommerfugl
- Finlandnaurisperhonen
- GermanyWeissling, Kleiner Kohl-Weissling, Rueben-
- Israellavnin hakruv hakatan
- ItalyRapaiola
- JapanNa-no-aomusi
- NetherlandsKoolwitje, kleine
- Norwayliten kalsommerfugl
- Swedenrovfjäril
- EPPO code
- PIERRA (Pieris rapae)
Pictures
Distribution
Host Plants and Other Plants Affected
Symptoms
Larvae of Pieris rapae damage cruciferous crops by chewing leaves, hearts and curds. Young larvae hatch on the outer leaves and feed on them superficially leaving the upper leaf surface intact. Older larvae make holes in the leaves and are more likely to eat through small veins, they also damage the outer leaves of the hearts of cabbages or the curd of broccoli or cauliflowers.They often bore into the centre of the head damaging the edible portion of the plant. Heavily infested plants become ragged and stunted but no webbing occurs.The presence of masses of wet greenish-brown excrement deep among leaves is indicative of this pest. In large infestations of P. rapae the plant may be reduced to a partial or complete skeleton, in which all the leaf tissue except the veins has been eaten.
List of Symptoms/Signs
Symptom or sign | Life stages | Sign or diagnosis |
---|---|---|
Plants/Fruit/external feeding | ||
Plants/Fruit/frass visible | ||
Plants/Growing point/external feeding | ||
Plants/Growing point/frass visible | ||
Plants/Leaves/external feeding | ||
Plants/Leaves/frass visible | ||
Plants/Whole plant/external feeding | ||
Plants/Whole plant/frass visible | ||
Plants/Whole plant/plant dead; dieback |
Prevention and Control
Chemical Control
Insecticides have been used to control Pieris rapae since crucifers have been cultivated. Generally, insecticides have to be applied every one or two weeks to achieve good crop quality and this has led to numerous instances of insecticide resistance in P. rapae (Chou et al., 1984; Han et al., 1987). Pesticide applications should begin when the P. rapae population reachs a threshold of one larva per plant. Spraying should be repeated every 5-7 days as needed.In recent years, good control has been achieved using managed spray or IPM programmes (Leibee et al., 1984; Theunissen, 1984; Stewart and Sears, 1988; Ferguson and Barratt, 1993). These generally combine close monitoring of pest and natural enemy populations with judicious applications of selective pesticides (Jackson and Hartley, 1982; Endersby et al., 1992; Forster and Hommes, 1992; Dornan et al., 1994). Thresholds for chemical and/or biological control of P. rapae have been developed in a number of countries. In Canada, timing of an insecticide treatment based on an action threshold of one larva/plant (57% infestation), produced quality cabbage heads for storage or the fresh market. Treatment when an average of three larvae per plant (87% infestation) occurred, resulted in cabbages suitable for processing (Mailloux and Belloncik, 1995).
Host-Plant Resistance
Some attempts have been made to breed varieties of crucifers resistant to P. rapae with only limited success (Dickson and Eckenrode, 1978; Shelton et al., 1988). Resistant varieties include Mammoth, Red Rock, Chieftan, Savoy, Savoy Perfection and Drumhead.
Cultural Control
New plantings should be as far as possible from those of the previous season. At the end of the season crops should be harvested without delay and plant residues should be ploughed under or destroyed. Intercropping and trap crops have had limited success as methods of controlling P. rapae (Kenny and Chapman, 1988; Luther et al., 1996; Wiech, 1996). Both strategies are likely to have some value in IPM systems based on pesticides or natural enemies.
Biological Control
Biever et al. (1994) developed a biological control system for P. rapae based on natural enemies for 53 hectares of cabbage in Texas. In Bermuda, a parasitic wasp, Pteromallus puparum, was introduced for control in 1987.Much use has been made of bacterial (primarily Bacillus thuringiensis) and viral preparations against P. rapae. These formulations are usually compatible with natural enemies and form the basis of many IPM systems for P. rapae (Goral et al., 1984; Su, 1986, 1989, 1991; Webb and Shelton, 1991).Classical biological control has been carried out in a number of countries using Cotesia glomerata, Cotesia rubecula, Pteromalus puparum, Compsilura concinnata or Phryxe vulgaris. In Australia (Wilson, 1960) partial control was achieve. In New Zealand (Cameron et al., 1989, 1995) and in the USA (Clausen 1978) substantial control was achieved. In Canada, parasitoids have beeen established (Corrigan, 1983).
Impact
Pieris rapae is a very serious pest of crucifers in Europe, North America, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand. Unless controlled, damage from P. rapae larvae can result in total crop loss (Hely et al., 1982).
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Copyright © CABI. CABI is a registered EU trademark. This article is published under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
History
Published online: 16 November 2021
Language
English
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