The great southern white is, as its name suggests, from the far south, where it is partially migratory and strays northward to Virginia, Michigan, and Kansas. Minnesota is now the most northerly record of the species. Did this individual arrive here as the result of an unusual weather event like a hurricane, or does it indicate global warming? Or perhaps because of easy confusion with other look alike species, it has merely been overlooked? Time and continuous observations may tell.

I found this specimen, the only one thus far known from Minnesota, dead on the sidewalk, across Kellogg Blvd from the Science Museum. The condition of the specimen indicated that it could not have been killed by a motor vehicle and transported from another state. The butterfly demonstrates that important discoveries can be made not only in far distant regions of the globe but also at, in, or near the doorsteps of the Science Museum. It also shows that small things can equal large things in interest, even though they are often overlooked, ignored, or believed unimportant.
– Dick Oehlenschlager, Biology