Madeiran Large White

Did a virus or a parasite drive it to extinction?

The Madeiran large white was declared the first butterfly to have gone extinct in Europe due to human interference with nature, according to Lewis Smith in a 2007 article in the British Times. Exactly why the Madeiran large white went extinct, however, is not certain.

Smith names possible causes of the butterfly species’ disappearance. These include habitat loss for the creation of new commercial and residential areas, as well as the use of fertilizers in agriculture.

The IUCN also points to two further possible causes. One hypothesis was presented by B. Gardiner in 2003 in his study The possible Cause of Extinction of Pieris brassicae wollastoni: the Madeiran large white may have gone extinct following the introduction to Madeira of the Small White (Pieris rapae) together with a virus. This is said to have happened in the 1950s.

Since 1971, the small white has in fact been one of the most common butterfly species on Madeira, according to entomologist Marc Meyer in 1993 in Die Lepidoptera der makaronesischen Region. He is unsure, however, whether the species established itself on Madeira because of favorable development conditions or whether it was accidentally imported with vegetables.

The second hypothesis, proposed by Aurel Lozan and colleagues in 2008, states that the butterfly species’ extinction could be due to the introduction of a parasite to the Portuguese island of Madeira.

The parasite in question is the white butterfly parasite (Cortesia glomerata). This was introduced for pest control, among other places, to the Canary Islands, where it became a serious threat to the endemic Canary Islands large white (Pieris cheiranthi). It is therefore reasonable to suspect that the parasite may also have contributed to the disappearance of the Madeiran large white on Madeira.

Madeiran large white – fact sheet

alternative name	large white
scientific names	Pieris brassicae wollastoni, Pieris wollastoni, Pieris cheiranti wollastoni, Ganoris wollastoni
original range	Madeira (Atlantic Ocean, Portugal)
time of extinction	1986 at the earliest
causes of extinction	habitat loss, the small white (Pieris rapae) introduced to the island together with a virus, or introduced parasites
IUCN status	extinct

Unsuccessful: a 15-year search for the butterfly

The last observation of the cabbage white on Madeira dates from 1986. Scientists reported that the species had already been rare in the 1970s, while individual reports from the 1980s still assumed a comparatively broad distribution.

Since the species has not been documented for almost four decades on the approximately 740-square-kilometer island of Madeira, and because a search lasting 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s also remained unsuccessful, experts finally declared the Madeiran large white extinct in 2007.

With the latest Red List update in October 2025, the IUCN has now also officially classified the Madeiran large white as extinct. The reassessment took place on April 17, 2023 and was published in 2025 as part of the global and European overall assessment. Previously, the butterfly had been listed in the category Critically Endangered, Possibly Extinct.

At least two endemic animal species have gone extinct on the island of Madeira: the butterfly species Madeiran large white and a subspecies of the wood pigeon that lived in Europe, the Madeira wood pigeon.

Contested species status: Madeiran large white

The Latin name of the Madeiran large white honors the English insect researcher Thomas Vernon Wollaston. Because of a lung disease, he spent a great deal of time on Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands in the 19th century and discovered a large number of new insect species there.

The species status of the Madeiran large white is disputed, because not all scientists regard the butterfly from Madeira as a distinct species. Some assume that it is a subspecies of the large white (Pieris brassicae). The large white is widespread from North America to Scandinavia.

For example, both the IUCN and A. E. and Rashleigh Holt White in Butterflies and Moths of Teneriffe (1894) recognized the butterfly’s own species status under the name Pieris wollastoni.

The Madeiran large white could reach a wingspan of 5.5 to 6.5 centimeters. This roughly matches the size of the large white and the Canary Islands large white.

The butterfly’s wings were whitish-beige in color. The females, however, had black fused spots on the underside of the forewings. The wing tips were black. Large white butterflies differ from one another, among other things, in the shape and arrangement of the black spots on the forewings.

The caterpillars of the Madeiran large white were green with black spots and yellow stripes on the upper part of the body. They fed mainly on the leaves of wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea), which is why the butterfly and its caterpillars were sometimes regarded as pests.