Morphological study of alar androconia in Celastrina butterflies. Issue 3 (23rd March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ômura, Hisashi; Itoh, Takao; Wright, David M.; Pavulaan, Harry; Schröder, Stefan
• Is Part Of: Entomological science. Volume 18:Issue 3(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 353
• Page End: 359
• Publication Date: 2015-03-23
• Subjects: Insects -- Periodicals; Entomology -- Periodicals; 595.705
• DOI: 10.1111/ens.12126
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1343-8786

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Morphological studies of androconia were performed for 13 <italic>Celastrina</italic> species using a digital microscope with Z‐stacking mode. Whereas <italic>C. ladon</italic> lacked androconia, the remaining 12 species were found to possess fan‐shaped androconia on the dorsal wing surfaces. The androconia of these species shared the following common features: smaller size than standard color‐producing scales, absence of dentate termini and presence of crossrib perforations. In addition, some species were characterized by unique microstructures in their androconia. The androconia of <italic>C. argiolus iynteana</italic> possessed a rounded lamellar contour, while those of <italic>C. lavendularis himilcon</italic> and <italic>C. echo cinerea</italic> were tapered on the basal end. The average number of longitudinal ridges of <italic>C. argiolus ladonides</italic> and <italic>C. filipjevi</italic> (17.1) were greater than the average number of 12 species (14.3). These results suggest that the morphological traits of androconia in microdomain, such as the shape of the lamellar form and the average number of longitudinal ridges, are useful to identify species in the genus <italic>Celastrina</italic>.</p> </abstract>