Small White: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Creepy Crawlies · day 7 of 7

Five facts

1. A small white's wing beats 12.8 times per second, and it can sprint up to 12 km in a single flight.
2. Females lay their eggs one at a time on leaves, and they lay more on isolated plants than on plants growing in clumps.
3. Cabbage-family plants make mustard-oil chemicals, but small white caterpillars have a special body chemistry that makes them immune.
4. The small white hitchhiked on human trade out of the Eastern Mediterranean, reaching North America in the 1860s and Australia by 1937.
5. Females typically cover about 0.7 km a day, straying only 0.45 km from their starting point.

The quiz

1. How many times per second does a small white's wing beat?

• 2.8
• 28
• 12.8 (correct)
• 128

Its wing beats 12.8 times per second.

2. Which plants get more small white eggs?

• Isolated plants (correct)
• Plants growing in clumps
• Dead plants
• Plants under water

Females lay more eggs on isolated plants than on plants in clumps.

3. What are small white larvae immune to?

• Sunlight
• Mustard-oil defences of plants (correct)
• Bird songs
• Rain

Thanks to a special body chemistry, the caterpillars are immune to the plants' mustard-oil chemicals.

4. When did the small white reach Australia?

• By 1897
• By 1860
• By 1800
• By 1937 (correct)

It reached Australia by 1937.

5. How far from their starting point do females stray?

• 12 km
• 0.45 km (correct)
• 4.5 km
• 0.045 km

Females stray only 0.45 km from where they started.

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