Penaincisalia culminicola (Staudinger, 1894)

Bálint, Zsolt, Vértesy, Zofia & Biró, László P., 2005, Microstructures and nanostructures of high Andean Penaincisalia lycaenid butterfly scales (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): descriptions and interpretations, Journal of Natural History 39 (31), pp. 2935-2952 : 2940-2941

Penaincisalia culminicola

( Figures 1C , 4 )

The dorsal colour is iridescent Lobelia Blue ( Figure 1C ). The scales are uniformly tileshaped with moderately toothed apical margins, with length/width ratio 3/2 (90/ 60 mm) ( Figure 4A ). We could detect two kinds of scale microstructures.

1. The longitudinal ridges with flutes are low and they merge with straight cross ribs having widely open rectangular microcells. The spaces between cross ribs are 0.5 and 1 mm, and irregular. In the microcells are irregular pepper-pot-like layers, and the trabeculae and the scale membrane can be clearly seen ( Figure 4B ), but there are some areas which show more regularity ( Figure 4C ).

2. The longitudinal ridges are high, showing flutes, and they merge with closely set vshaped cross ribs forming rectangular, narrow and almost completely closed microcells. The space between the cross ribs is less than 0.3 mm; their intervals are slightly irregular. Almost every microcell has a single circular nanoscaled opening at the base. Beneath the opening, pepper-pot nanostructures can be clearly seen ( Figure 4D ).

Figures

Figure 1. Lycaenid butterfly species investigated showing male dorsal wing surfaces. (A) Penaincisalia aurulenta Johnson, 1990 (Peru: PN Huascarán, Quebrada Demanda; HNHM); (B) Penaincisalia perezi Bálint, 2001 (Peru: PN Husacarán; Llanganuco; HNHM paratype); (C) Penaincisalia culminicola (Staudinger, 1894) (Peru: PNB Huascarán, Llanganuco; HNHM); (D) Thecloxurina loxurina (Felder and Felder, 1865) (Ecuador: Carchi, Res. Forest. Golondrinas; HNHM); (E) Thecloxurina atymna (Hewitson, 1870) (Ecuador: Zamora, Cord. Lagunillas; HNHM); (F) Thecloxurina atymna (Hewitson, 1870) (Ecuador: Azuay, Cuenca; HNHM).

Figure 4. Scanning electron micrographs of Penaincisalia culminicola scale microstructures. (A) Tile-shaped scales with dentate anterior margins; (B) low longitudinal ridges, straight cross ribs, widely opening microcells, pepperpot layers; (C) moderate longitudinal ridges, curved cross ribs with layers of wispy material; (D) high longitudinal ridges with flutes, closely set v-shaped cross ribs, rectangular and almost closed microcells.