MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Hindwings The hindwing underside has its basal half uniformly yellow coloured and the yellow markings are divided by black veins. The yellow markings become white-ish near the marginal border (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Female
Females of Appias cardena perkana are similar to males, but with heavier and broader black margins of the hindwing underside (D'Abrera, 1982).
Subspecies and variation
Three subspecies are described (D'Abrera, 1982; Yata and Morishita, 1979). The males and females of ssp. cardena are similar to ssp. perakana, but are smaller, with less intense black markings on the underside wing surface (D'Abrera, 1982). Ssp. hagar has the apical black markings better developed and the yellow markings on the hindwing underside are paler. Ssp. perkana has the yellow marking deeper (Yata and Morishita, 1979).