Checkered White
Adult butterflies and caterpillars are most common in disturbed or agricultural areas. Adults also fly in subarbs where weedy mustards grow. Multi-colored checkered white caterpillars can be found feeding both on flowers, fruits, or leaves of common mustards such as white top (Cardaria draba), tumble mustard (Sisymbrium altissimum), dyar's woad (Isatis tinctoria), prince's plume (Stanleya pinnata) and others.
The easiest way to raise this butterfly is to collect live females and then set them up to get eggs. Watch this video to see how this can be accomplished with a small cage. If you do find eggs and caterpillars on mustards, it is relatively easy to raise caterpillars either on potted plants, open terrariums, closed containers, or other methods.
Click on any image below to start a slide show.
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Checkered White Butterflies
Front Row: Common Checkered white male and female. Bottom Row: Male and female underside (or ventral surface.)
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Checkered White male (spring form)
Here is a photo of the early spring form of the checkered white butterfly.
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Dyars Woad Cuttings in Bottles of Water
An effective method of raising caterpillars of the checkered white in the spring is to place caterpillars on cuttings of common mustards. This is dyars woad; considered an invasive and undesirable weed in the Western U.S. However, caterpillars of the checkered white, cabbage white, large marble, desert marble, olympia marble, spring white, and julia orangetip ALL feed fine on dyars woad (Isatis tinctoria.)
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Potted Pink Cabbage Plant
Some nurseries sell pink cabbage (Brassica oleracea). Both checkered white and cabbage white caterpillars will feed on this plant.
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Potted Pink Cabbage Plant
Pink cabbage plant is covered with a paint strainer to protect larvae against predators such as spiders and earwigs. Place the potted plant near direct or filtered sunlight and water regularly.
This is just one of several potentially successful techniques of raising caterpillars of this butterfly.
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Checkered White Caterpillar
Here is another method of raising checkered white butterflies.
This is a third instar checkered white caterpillar in a twin cup setup on pink cabbage. The leaf of the pink cabbage protrudes down the hole of the one small container into the other container (bottled water bottle sliced in half) filled with water. For more information on how to create this setup, see this video.
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Checkered White Third Instar Caterpillar
Closeup of previous photo.
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Checkered White Fifth instar larva
Here is a photo of a fifth instar checkered white caterpillar feeding on princes plume (Stanleya pinnata).
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Checkered White Fifth Instar Caterpillar
Pontia protodice fifth instar on lab host pink cabbage (Brassica oleracea)
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