In its pre-adult form, the egg is orange, and mature larvae are black dotted and bluish green to gray with a yellow dorsal, lateral and sublateral stripe.

[3] Pontia protodice is most commonly found in the southern parts on the United States along with some of the northern areas of Mexico.

[4] It is absent from the Pacific Northwest and the New England area, although populations have become increasingly erratic just east of the Appalachians.[3]P.

[3] Though it may seem these species of butterfly inhabit a wide range of environments, they have been found to be absent from certain counties for many years at a time.

In order to increase their reproductive fitness, male P. protodice must select a female who will put his investment to good use.

[8] As females get older, they tend to accumulate tattering and scale loss which are consequences of increased contact with vegetation during feeding and their search for oviposition sites.

In half of all courtships, females also exhibit a low amplitude flutter response which seems to have no effect on the duration of copulation.

[11] In addition, in situations where they want to fend off a male's advances, female P. protodice exhibit a rejection behavior, initiated as if they are aware of the presence of a full spermatophore.

It is only in instances of increased male death and still emergent females, late in the breeding season, that the numbers balance and no emigration occurs.

[12] P. protodice require elevated body temperatures of 30-40 degrees Celsius in order to fly, and this is achieved by behavioral orientation to solar radiation.

Pieris butterflies, including P. protodice use a behavioral posture for thermoregulation called reflectance basking, in which the wings are used as a sort of biological solar reflector in order to reflect radiation to the body and increase body temperature.

[14] In the reflectance basking posture, the dorsal body surface is positioned towards the sun, and the wings are subsequently held open at an angle.

The posture suggests that the butterfly is using its white dorsal wing surface to reflect radiation onto their bodies.