This week’s late post along with my previous posts on Colorado Potato Beetle and Cabbage Root Fly complete my series on the study organisms of my PhD project. It seemed an appropriate topic for the week of my candidacy exam.

This butterfly known as the Small White in Europe, the Imported Cabbage Worm to vegetable growers in North America, and the Cabbage Butterfly to North American butterfly fanciers. From its names it is not surprising that it is a introduced pest of brassicaceous crops in North America. The vision of the Cabbage White has been well studied and perhaps most relevant to my work the untwisted structure of this insect’s rhabdom suggests it should be sensitive to polarized light.