Leptideini

Castro-Gerardino, Diana Jimena & Llorente-Bousquets, Jorge, 2017, Comparative exploration of antennae in Pseudopontia, and antennal clubs of the tribes Leptideini and Dismorphiini (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), Zootaxa 4347 (3), pp. 401-445 : 433

Comparison of Leptideini and Dismorphiini of different authors

The differences between the two tribes of Dismorphiinae are listed in Table 2, but this list is not intended to be exhaustive. The differences essentially relate to the chorion, as a product of the adult female, and different regions of the body. The table also includes biological characters such as mimicry, chromosomes, host plants, geological age, distribution, and habitat. The abundant differences demonstrate a remarkable divergence; however, the two tribes share many characters, as well (see below).

Both tribes have anthoxanthins as pigments in their scales, derived from urea (pterines). In addition to the presence of flavones, they have trisulcate antennae and feed exclusively of Fabaceae ( Higgins 1975, Llorente 1984, Llorente & Castro 2004, Beccaloni et al. 2008).

A synthesis of shared morphological characters was provided by Ehrlich (1958: 343–344) and Scott (1984): 1) Patagia membranous; 2) Forewing pedunculate and penta radials; 3) M1 and M2 of forewings originate from CD; only M1 originates from the radial branch ( Pseudopieris and Moschoneura ); 4) Forewing with cubital apparently quadrifid by the position of M3; 5) Hindwing with well-developed humeral vein; 6) AP with Sc+R1 without secondary fusion with R5; 7) M2 of hindwing originating from CD; 8) Tegumen reduced and shorter than uncus; 9) Uncus well developed and bilobulate; and 10) Valvae fused at their lower ventral and distal margins. Other shared characters include the semi-fusiform chorion, more than twice as long as wide, and without peri-micropylar differentiation ( Llorente & Castro 2007, 2008, Llorente et al. unpublished); and male genitalia globular with strong development of the juxta-transtilla ( Klots 1931 –1933, Llorente 1984).

Based on these characters, Pseudopontia cannot be basal to the rest of Pieridae , the sister-group to Pieridae , or the sister-group to Dismorphiini. It appears to be a more recent and specialized branch of Coliadinae based on the type of pupa ( Sáfián 2015, Dias et al. 2016). Pseudopontia may have arisen earlier than Coliadinae and Pierinae ( Wahlberg et al. 2014) as the ancestor of both subfamilies. The information presented since Reuter (1898) for palps and Klots (1931 –1933) for venation and male genitalia support this conclusion, and subsequent authors have agreed with this hypothesis (e.g., Clench 1955, Wahlberg et al. 2014, see discussion).