Pieridae

The wings of these butterflies are white on top and greenish-yellow beneath, and their bodies are black. The forewings have black tips and round black spots. The males and females can be distinguished by the number of spots on their forewings: the males have one per wing, and the females, two. Both sexes have a single black spot on their hindwings. Their wingspan varies from 3 to 5.8 cm.

The caterpillars are green or blue-green and covered with short, fine hairs. They are up to 3.5 cm long.

This large family consists of small or medium-sized white, yellow or orange butterflies with orange wingtips. They often have dark or red markings on their wings, and spots visible only in ultraviolet light, thought to be used for courtship. With the Papilionidae, these are the only butterflies to have three sets of fully developed functional legs in both sexes.

The Coliadinae subfamily comprises yellow and orange butterflies called sulphurs and orangetips. They often have black-bordered wings. The members of the Pierinae subfamily are generally white with black markings or white with orange-tipped forewings.