Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) is a medium-sized butterfly, with a wingspan of 1.75 to 2.25 inches. It overwinters as a chrysalis, which makes it one of the first butterflies to emerge in spring. It can be seen from March to November; numbers peak in July. Like the Checkered White and Margined White, it has many host plants in the mustard (Brassicaceae) family. These include cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprout, kale, bok choy and broccoli.
In many species, females reject a male’s advances by using a mating refusal posture. They raise their abdomen sharply upwards, sometimes even at a 90-degree angle. Usually, a male is then physically unable to mate with the female. In the courtship video, the male is flying around a perched female. Note that the female is in the mating refusal posture from the beginning, but the male persists for more than a minute.”
This butterfly, like all butterflies in the Pieridae family (Whites and Sulphurs), flies endlessly and does not land very often. So it is under-represented in photograph-based databases like iNaturalist. Even more so, because it is a very common urban butterfly, and people don’t bother to try and photograph it too often. In contrast, people knowledgable about butterflies will try to photograph butterflies like Checkered White and Margined White at every opportunity.
Not native to the US, it is believed to have originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region. It is believed to have arrived in the U.S. in shipments of cabbage in the 1860’s. It is found in North and Central America, Eurasia, and Australia/New Zealand.
