First report of morphometrics and length-length relationships of the common grass yellow butterfly, Eurema hecabe (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

Abstract

The present investigation was conducted to study the morphometrics and length-length relationships (LLRs) of the Common Grass Yellow Butterfly, Eurema hecabe (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pieridiae). Samples were collected randomly from the Rajshahi University Campus (RUC), Bangladesh, and the pictures were taken with a DSLR camera (Canon 750D) and measured using ImageJ software (l.48v). Here, a total of 14 different morphometric lengths viz. total body, antenna, wings (fore- and hindwing) and legs (fore-, mid- and hindleg) were evaluated. Total length (TL) was recorded as a minimum of 11.51 mm and a maximum of 22.01 mm, whereas antenna length (AL) has differed from 5.78-8.68 mm. The highest morphometric mean was found in forewing base-apex (FWBA) as 21.45±2.21 mm, and the lowest mean of length was recorded in the hindleg (HL) as 6.21±0.67 mm. The FWBA was larger than the TL about 33% followed by the forewing base-tornus (FWBT), hindwing base-apex (HWBA), hindwing base tornus (HWBT) and forewing cubitus2 vein (C2V). According to co-efficient of determination (r2) values, the best-fitted model of LLRs was TL vs. foreleg (FL) among 13 equations. The allometric coefficient ‘b’ was suggested positive allometric growth. These works will be very useful for species recognition and taxonomic study of butterflies in the RUC as well as in Bangladesh.