Leptosia

Leptosia, commonly called wood whites, is a genus of pierid butterflies. It is the only genus of the tribe Leptosiaini.^[1] Leptosia are found in Africa, except for Leptosia nina, which ranges from India to Australia, and Leptosia lignea, which is found only on Sulawesi. All have a frail appearance and broad rounded wings. They are only distantly related to the Palearctic wood whites Leptidea (Dismorphiinae).

Leptosia
Leptosia medusa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pieridae
Tribe:	Leptosiaini Braby, 2014
Genus:	Leptosia Hübner, 1818
Species
Several, see text
Synonyms
Nina Horsfield, [1829] Nychitona Butler, 1870

Species

Listed alphabetically:^[2]

• Leptosia alcesta (Stoll, [1782]) – African wood white or flip flop (Sub-Saharan Africa)
• Leptosia bastini Hecq, 1997
• Leptosia hybrida Bernardi, 1952 – hybrid wood white (western Africa)
• Leptosia lignea (Vollenhoven, 1865) – (endemic to Sulawesi)
• Leptosia marginea (Mabille, 1890) – black-edged spirit (western Africa)
• Leptosia medusa (Cramer, [1777]) – dainty spirit (western Africa)
• Leptosia nina (Fabricius, 1793) – Psyche (Southeast Asia to Australia)
• Leptosia nupta (Butler, 1873) – immaculate wood white (western Africa)
• Leptosia wigginsi (Dixey, 1915) – opaque wood white (central Africa)

References

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leptosia.

 

Wikispecies has information related to Leptosia.

1. Wahlberg, N.; Rota, J.; Braby, M.F.; Pierce, N.E.; Wheat, C.W. (2014). "Revised systematics and higher classification of pierid butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) based on molecular data". Zoologica Scripta. 43 (6): 641–650. doi:10.1111/zsc.12075.
2. Leptosia, funet.fi

External links

• Images representing Leptosia at Consortium for the Barcode of Life