Abstract
The ultrastructure of androconia and their surrounding scales of nine species in nine genera across four subfamilies of Hesperiidae is studied. This provides a basis for the classification and identification of some genera and species. The wing surface of the scent glands patches was cut with scissors, observed and photographed under an S-4800 scanning electron microscope (at 10.0 kV accelerated pressure). There were significant differences in the types of scent glands patches across subfamilies. The scent glands patches of Pyrginae and Dudaminae are mainly in the costal fold of the forewing, while those of Coeliadinae and Hesperiinae are mainly in the line or circular stigma on the wing surface. The length, breadth and aperture of the androconia were further measured and the data are analysed by variance and multiple comparisons. There are significant differences amongst the subfamilies, except for Dudaminae and Pyrginae. In Hesperiinae, Telicotacolon (Fabricius, 1775) and Ampittiavirgata (Leech, 1890) have no significant difference in the aperture of the androconia, but are significantly different from Thymelicusleoninus (Butler, 1878). There are significant differences in the aperture between Pyrgusalveus’s (Hübner, 1803) androconium and the second androconium of Loboclabifasciata (Bremer & Grey, 1853), but not with the first androconium of Loboclabifasciata. The morphology of androconia in the scent glands patches is very similar in Hesperiinae; all are rod-shaped and paddle-like. The scale types around the scent glands patches are different, but there are one or two similar types. To a certain extent, the aperture of the androconia reflects the genetic relationships between subfamilies and species. The differences in scale type and structure of scent glands patches can be used as a reference for the classification of subfamilies and genera in Hesperiidae.
Highlights
Sex signs are often used as the key morphological features of Lepidoptera to distinguish males from females outdoors, such as Danaidae and Nymphalidae males possessing ear-shaped pouches on the hindwings and brush-like odour sacs at the end of their abdomen (Boppre and Vane‐Wright 1989; Chou 1998; Vane-Wright et al 2002; Simonsen et al 2012; de Oliveira Borges et al 2020) or different markings on the wings of Pieridae males (Zhang 2008; Beserra Nobre et al 2021)
In the ultrastructure observation of the scent glands patches, it has been found that the release of pheromone is related to the special structural scales called “androconia” (Kuwahara 1979; Ômura et al 2013; Okumura et al 2016; Mann et al 2017, 2020; Stamm et al 2019)
Samples were attached to a holder using electric adhesive tape, sputter coated with gold and observed and photographed with an S-4800 scanning electron microscope
Summary
Sex signs are often used as the key morphological features of Lepidoptera to distinguish males from females outdoors, such as Danaidae and Nymphalidae males possessing ear-shaped pouches on the hindwings and brush-like odour sacs at the end of their abdomen (Boppre and Vane‐Wright 1989; Chou 1998; Vane-Wright et al 2002; Simonsen et al 2012; de Oliveira Borges et al 2020) or different markings on the wings of Pieridae males (Zhang 2008; Beserra Nobre et al 2021). Studies of fossil scales have shown that scales had an earlier origin in the evolution of Lepidoptera and have significance in reflecting the relationships between species (Zhang et al 2018). Many taxonomic studies, based on the morphological characteristics of the scale surface, have shown that the size, shape and surface ridges of the scales can accurately reflect the differences between species and genera. Scales have been widely used in determining the classification, identification, evolutionary and genetic relationships of many species (Fang et al 2007; Qiu and Han 2009)
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