Alabama Butterfly Atlas

West Virginia Whites are at home in the Appalachian Mountain Range.  Its cool cove forests and rich deciduous woodlands are favorite haunts and breeding grounds.  Fortunately for Alabamians, the northeast corner of our state includes just such habitats, allowing these delicate butterflies to maintain residency.  They seldom stray far from their host plants and are not considered good colonizers.  These butterflies seem to meander through the woodland floor, stopping occasionally to nectar at small woodland wildflowers, including those of their toothwort hosts.  Males check out anything white to see if it might be an unmated female.  They also puddle at damp spots along trails or creek banks. 

In many parts of its range, an invasive alien plant, Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) poses a critical threat to West Virginia White populations.  Its smell entices females to lay their eggs on it, but caterpillars are not adapted to its array of chemicals and cannot survive.  Originally confined to the northeastern states, the Alabama Plant Atlas indicates that Garlic Mustard now occurs in at least two northeast Alabama counties: Jackson and Limestone. Careful monitoring of our state's West Virginia White populations is needed so that appropriate conservation steps can occur if circumstances warrant.