UK Butterflies

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Wood White Aberrations

This page provides access to all named aberrations of a given species and Goodson & Read (1969) is a key resource in this regard.

Introduction

Description to be completed.

All Aberrations

Natural History Museum
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ab. nov

This section contains those aberrations that are considered new, and have yet to be formally defined.

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ab. flavescens (Grund.Ent.Z.1905.19.p.147.)

The ground colour yellowish.

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ab. erysimi (Borkhausen.Eur.Schmett.1788.1.p.132.)

Entirely white above and below.

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ab. apicedivisa (Stauder.Iris.1921.35.p.28.)

Male with the apical patch divided into two parts by white veins.

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ab. lineata (Rocci.Atti.Soc.Ligust Sc.Nat.1920.30.no.4.p.16.)

At the apex of the forewings a series of black streaks following the veins instead of the normal apical patch, the streaks clearly separated by the white ground.

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ab. lactopolia (Dannehl.Ent.Z.1933.46.p.232.)

The apical spot of the forewings entirely unicolorous, without any dark spots, points, or lines. Spring generation. Found in all races. The author does not give the actual colour of the apical spot but the name suggests milky grey.

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ab. pierardi (Caruel.Bull.Soc.Ent.Belg.1947.83.p.61.)

The apical patch of the forewings is small, rounded and completely isolated from the external and costal margins.

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ab. andromorphica (Verity.Rhop.Pal.1911.p.343.pl.68.f.27.)

Female with the black apical blotch similar to that of the male but a little reduced.

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ab. brunneomaculata (Stauder.Iris.1921.35.p.28.)

= ganarew Frohawk.Nat.Hist.Brit.Butts.1914.pl.8.f.16.

The apical tip of a pale sandy brown instead of blackish or grey. Albino. Some authors accept the name ganarew given by Frohawk to the figure but he was obviously merely giving the locality and placed the abbreviation ‘ab.’ in front of it.

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ab. ramei (Legras.Rev.Fr.Lep.1945.10.p.92.)

Melanic form. Upper and underside of all wings of a uniform sombre grey colour without a trace of black at the apex or costa at the base. The head, thorax, antennae, feet and abdomen are of the same grey tint, the eyes brown as is the extremity of the antennae knobs. Of the summer generation, but the author does not state sex.

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ab. blachieri (Caruel.Rev.Fr.Lep.1945.10.p.92.,fig.Bull.Soc.Lep.Gen.1.pl.9.f.5.)

Named from the figure. This shows the internal or basal half of all wings smoky black with a whitish irregular diagonal line starting at the costa of the forewings, a little beyond the base, and cutting across to the centre of the inner margin and then, on the hindwings, cutting diagonally back to the inner margin a quarter of an inch [6mm] below the base. The insect would appear to be stained through the wings being wet when shut up thus producing the line on all four wings. The author however states that it is not an artefact.

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ab. detersa (Rocci.Atti.Soc.Ligust.Sc.Nat.1920.30.no.4.p.15.)

The underside of the hindwings as in the spring generation but the upperside of the forewings with no apical shading.

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ab. arduenna (Crombrugghe.Rev.Mens.Soc.Ent.Nam.1911.p.104.)

Resembles the subspecies amurensis, which is characterised by the elongation of the forewings, but in this form the apical patch is no more developed than in the type form. Presumably merely aberrant in shape. Leptidea amurensis [an Asian form] has a larger apical spot than sinapis.

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ab. major (Grund.Ent.Z.1905.19.p.145.)

Very large. 45-48mm. Described as a race.

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ab. minor (Muschamp.Ent.Rec.1911.23.p.274.)

= minor Ksienchopolslky.Werke.Ges.Erf.Wolhyn.1911.8.supl.p.27.
= minor Derenne.Rev.Mens.Soc.Ent.Nam.1925.25.p.92.

Small examples. 30mm.

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ab. diniensis (Boisduval.Gen.Meth.1840.p.6.)

The underside immaculate, no dark markings.

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ab. monovittata (Verity.Ent.Rec.1924.36.p.111.)

Underside of the hindwings with only one light but distinct band across them at the back of the discoidal cell. In some cases an indistinct patch near the costal margin, being the vestige of another band, such as is present in the summer generation. The form is intermediate between diniensis and sinapis summer form, which Verity calls bivittata.

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ab. melanoinspersa (Verity.Rhop.Pal.1911.p.344.)

Underside of the forewings sprinkled with black scales. On the upperside the apical blotch is large and very black, the veins dusted black and the fringes black. By the name this would seem to be primarily an underside form.

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ab. subgrisea (Staudinger.Cat.Lep.Pal.1901.p.15.)

Underside grey, not green or yellowish. Most of our English specimens fall under this description so the name is hardly of use.

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ab. sartha (H.Ruhl.Gross.Schmett.1895.p.143.)

Underside of the hindwings and apex of the forewings yellowish. Examples occur in England but not so yellow as in the Irish subspecies juvernica [now known to be a separate species, L. juvernica].

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ab. infraflava (Lempke.Tijdschr.Ent.1953.96.p.274.)

Underside of the hindwings and apex of the forewings pale yellow.

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ab. obscurata (Verity.Bull.Soc.Ent.It.1916.48.p.182.)

Underside with the basal area very dark and the bands broad and diffused.

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