by Leslie Cox; Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I was looking up the cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) and came across a new word I did not understand. This happens regularly when one peruses more scientific tomes.

Always naturally curious, I looked up the word in my biology dictionary.

 

multivoltine – (adj) having more than two generations, or broods, in a year

 

This explains why we see cabbage white butterflies fairly early in spring through until almost autumn frost in our Zone 7a garden. There has to be more than one generation per year in this species given butterflies usually only live up to 14 days.

However, I was very surprised to learn Pieris rapae can live up to 29 days after emerging from their pupa. Had no idea. But then one cabbage white butterfly looks so much like another to the naked eye…and especially when they are on the wing.

Taking my new word lesson one step further in order to fully satisfy my curiosity, I looked up these new words that also refer to an organism’s number of generations in a year.

 

voltinism – (n) a biological term indicating the number of generations, or broods, an organism has in a year

 

univoltine – (adj) having one generation, or brood, in a year

bivoltine – (adj) having two generations, or broods, in a year

semivoltine – (adj) term used in reference to those organisms whose generation, or life cycle, time is more than one year