Bug FAQEastern Bath White
Pontia edusa · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Pieridae
Also called: Bath White
The Eastern Bath White is a small to medium butterfly with a wingspan of about 45 mm and white upper wings marked with black spots. Its hindwing undersides show greenish-grey spots, and the adults are on the wing from March to October, producing two to four generations depending on latitude.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The underside of the hindwings has greenish-grey spots.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Its wingspan reaches about 45 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It lives in open grassy or flowery areas, stony places, roadsides, and up to 1,500 m altitude, often where its host plants grow up to 2,300 m.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
The caterpillars feed on plants in the Resedaceae family.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adults fly from March to October, producing two to four generations depending on latitude, and they hibernate as chrysalises.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are active from March through October, with multiple generations in a year.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It is found from southeastern Europe, including southern France, Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia, through central Europe and into the Middle East such as Iran and Iraq.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It looks almost identical to Pontia daplidice, making its western range hard to determine.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Same family (Pieridae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontia_edusa
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.