pierine

English

Noun

pierine (plural pierines)

1. A butterfly of the family Pieridae.
   • 2012, K. Wöhrmann, Population Biology and Evolution‎^[1], page 18:

     Rather than reviewing the physics and physiology of butterfly thermoregulation here, I will simply note that thermoregulatory advantage is not yet proven for the seasonal phenotypes of any pierine, though strongly suspected; increased survivorship […]

   • 2012, Fritz Taylor, The Evolution of Insect Life Cycles‎^[2], page 156:

     Any hope that the pierines would help to define “the level at which r-K phenomena should be sought has been dashed: apparently species groups (or subgenera, or splitters' genera) are r- or K-selected in the holarctic, whereas in Tatochila the same amount of differentiation is found among populations in a complex in which the process of speciation has not yet been completed.

   • 2016, Reginald Crundall Punnett, Mimicry in Butterflies‎^[3]:

     For Africa, Marshall has collected some fortysix observations of which almost half are concerned with Pierines.

Adjective

pierine (not comparable)

1. (zoology) Relating to, or resembling, the butterflies of the family Pieridae.
   • 1893, The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London‎^[4]:

     The bearing of the geographical distribution of existing Pierine forms upon the preceding phylogenetic conclusions was then considered, and it was shown that the facts of distribution, taken in connection with what was known of the means of transit possible for insects, and especially of the migratory habits of certain Pierines, were in general accordance with the same conclusions.

   • 1898, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society‎^[5], volume 26, Linnean Society of London, page 597:

     No pigment of similar constitution to the Pierine white, yellow, and red, was found by Mr. Hopkins in any other butterfly—not even in the allied Papilioninae.

   • 2012, Allen M. Young, Population Biology of Tropical Insects‎^[6], page 458:

     Perhaps some of the most interesting data on such properties of adaptive response, and constraints upon it, come from the recent studies of Shapiro on Andean pierine butterflies.