Pepe ma
Pieris rapae (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
Pepe ma (Pieris rapae) is an insect in the butterflies and moths subgroup, placed in the family Pieridae of the order Lepidoptera. It is also known by the English names Small white, Cabbage white, White butterfly, Cabbage butterfly and Small cabbage white.
Quick facts about the pepe ma
The species was named (Linnaeus, 1758) and belongs to the genus Pieris, superfamily Papilionoidea, class Insecta and phylum Arthropoda. The Catalogue of Life lists Pepe ma as a living species, not extinct.
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 3.9 cm – 5.03 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Nectarivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- flowerssrc for Main food
- Habitat
- grassland, human_modified, rocky, shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- On the wing
- All yearsrc for On the wing
- Generations a year
- Severalsrc for Generations a year
- Larval food plants
- Brassicaceae familysrc for Larval food plants
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the pepe ma?
Photos of the pepe ma
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the pepe ma live?
Not recorded
What is the pepe ma?
Pieris rapae is a small-to-medium-sized butterfly species of the whites-and-yellows family Pieridae. It is known in Europe as the small white, in North America and the United Kingdom as the cabbage white or cabbage butterfly, on several continents as the small cabbage white, and in New Zealand as the white butterfly. The butterfly is recognizable by its white color with small black dots on its wings, and it can be distinguished from P. brassicae by the latter's larger size and black band at the tip of the forewings.
The caterpillar of this species, often referred to as the "imported cabbageworm", is a pest to crucifer crops such as cabbage, kale, bok choy and broccoli. Pieris rapae is widespread in Europe and Asia; it is believed to have originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Europe and to have spread across Eurasia thanks to the diversification of brassicaceous crops and the development of human trade routes. Over the past two centuries, it spread to North Africa (about 1800), North America (1860s), Hawaii (1897), New Zealand (1930), and Australia (1937), as a result of accidental introductions.
From the Wikipedia article “Pieris rapae” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pieris_rapae&oldid=1382845975), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the pepe ma endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the pepe ma classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyPieridae
- genusPieris
- SpeciesPieris rapae (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Artogeia rapae, Artogeia rapae orientalis, Papilio rapae, Pieris brassciae var. crucivora, Pieris brassicae var. crucivora, Pieris mandschurica, Pieris metra, Pieris napaeae, Pieris napeae, Pieris rafae, Pieris rapae accrescens, Pieris rapae crucivora, Pieris rapae debilis, Pieris rapae eumorpha, Pieris rapae flavescens, Pieris rapae orientalis, Pieris rapae pulverea, Pieris rapae var. mandschurica, Pieris rapae var. orientalis, Pieris rapae yokohamae, Pieris rapae yunnana, Pieris wladiwostokensis, Pontia metra
Other names and names in other languages (80)
- Cabbage butterflyEnglish
- Cabbage whiteEnglish
- Imported cabbagewormEnglish
- Small cabbage whiteEnglish
- Small whiteEnglish
- Small whiteEnglish
- Small white butterflyEnglish
- White butterflyEnglish
- البيضاء الصغيرةArabic
- أبو دقيق الملفوفArabic
- أبو دقيق الملفوف الصغيرArabic
- palombinaAsturian
- Бялянка рэпаваяBelarusian
- Рапична пеперудаBulgarian
- Gwennig bihanBreton
- Blanqueta de la colCatalan
- bělásek řepovýCzech
- Gwyn BachWelsh
- Gwynion BachWelsh
- Lille kålfuglDanish
- Lille kålsommerfuglDanish
- Lille kålsværmerDanish
- RübenweißlingGerman
- Kleiner Kohl-WeißlingGerman
- Kleiner KohlweißlingGerman
- Πιερίδα των γογγυλίωνGreek
- Blanquilla de la colSpanish
- Blanquita de la ColSpanish
- Mariposa blanca de la colSpanish
- Väike-kapsaliblikasEstonian
- NaurisperhonenFinnish
- SnjófiðrildiFaroese
- piéride du chouFrench
- Petit Blanc Du ChouFrench
- piéride de la raveFrench
- Letj kualflenerkNorthern Frisian
- Lytse Wite KoalflinterWestern Frisian
- Bánóg bheagIrish
- Bánóg chabáisteIrish
- dealan-dè beag gealScottish Gaelic
- dealain-dè bheaga ghealaScottish Gaelic
- Baneag vegManx
- לבנין הצנוןHebrew
- Repičin bijelacCroatian
- RépalepkeHungarian
- akraskjanniIcelandic
- RapaiolaItalian
- Cavolaia minoreItalian
- モンシロチョウJapanese
- 배추흰나비Korean
- Klenge KabespäiperlekLuxembourgish
- Ropinis baltukasLithuanian
- Rāceņu baltenisLatvian
- Мал зелкарMacedonian
- liten kålsommerfuglNorwegian Bokmål
- Klein koolwitjeDutch
- liten kålsommarfuglNorwegian Nynorsk
- Bielinek rzepnikPolish
- BielinekPolish
- Branca-das-couvesPortuguese
- Borboleta-das-couvesPortuguese
- Borboleta-pequena-da-couvePortuguese
- Lagarta-das-couvesPortuguese
- Fluturele verzeiRomanian
- РепницаRussian
- Белянка репнаяRussian
- návrrašbeaiveloddiNorthern Sami
- mlynárik repovýSlovak
- Repin belinSlovenian
- Лептир купусарSerbian
- RovfjärilSwedish
- liten kålfjärilSwedish
- RovefjärilSwedish
- ผีเสื้อหนอนกะหล่ำเล็กThai
- Küçük Beyaz MelekTurkish
- Білан ріп'янийUkrainian
- Ріпаковий біланUkrainian
- 菜粉蝶Chinese
- 白粉蝶Chinese
- 紋白蝶Chinese
Relatives of the pepe ma
Other species in the same genus Pieris.
Cabbage moth
Pieris brassicae
Green-veined white
Pieris napi
Southern small white
Pieris mannii
Canary large white
Pieris cheiranthi
Mountain small white
Pieris ergane
Dark-veined white
Pieris bryoniae
ComparePepe ma vs Cabbage mothPepe ma vs Green-veined whitePepe ma vs Southern small whitePepe ma vs Canary large white
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is Pepe ma?
Pepe ma is an insect in the butterflies and moths subgroup, in the order Lepidoptera and family Pieridae.
What is the scientific name of Pepe ma?
Its scientific name is Pieris rapae, in the genus Pieris.
What other names does Pepe ma have?
It is also called Small white, Cabbage white, White butterfly, Cabbage butterfly and Small cabbage white.
Who named Pieris rapae and when?
Pieris rapae was named by Linnaeus in 1758, written as (Linnaeus, 1758).
Is Pepe ma extinct?
No. The Catalogue of Life lists it as living, not extinct.
What family does Pepe ma belong to?
It belongs to the family Pieridae, within the superfamily Papilionoidea.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Pepe ma (Pieris rapae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/pepe-ma
“Pepe ma (Pieris rapae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/pepe-ma.
@misc{pepe_ma_2026,
title = {Pepe ma (Pieris rapae)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pepe-ma},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}