White Butterflies of Zihuatanejo

GENUS PIERIBALLIA

• Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

• Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

• Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

• Insects (Class Insecta)

• Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera)

• Butterflies (Superfamily Papilionoidea)

• Whites, Yellows, and Sulphurs (Family Pieridae)

• Whites (Subfamily Pierinae)

• Tribe Pierini

• Genus Pieriballia

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Genus Pieriballia is a small genus of tropical white butterflies in the family Pieridae that contains a single recognized species, Pieriballia viardi, commonly known as Painted White. It is found from southern Mexico through Central America into much of northern and central South America, inhabiting humid lowland and foothill rainforests, forest edges, clearings, and shaded riverbanks. Males frequently gather at damp soil, stream banks, and mud puddles to obtain dissolved minerals, and the genus is generally considered an indicator of healthy tropical forest ecosystems because it is most often encountered in relatively undisturbed woodland habitats.