Cupido Schrank

Munguira, Miguel L., Martín, José, García-Barros, Enrique, Shahbazian, Gayaneh & Cancela, Juan Pablo, 2015, Morphology and morphometry of Lycaenid eggs (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), Zootaxa 3937 (2), pp. 201-247 : 216

Genus Cupido Schrank

( Fig. 9 and 10 A–D)

Cupido minimus (Fuessly) ( Fig. 9 A, B) possesses a characteristic annular area with smooth and spotted cells and a transition zone with cells with a spongy texture. The cells on the tubercle-aeropyle zone have thin walls and not very prominent tubercles. In C. osiris (Meigen) ( Fig. 9 C, D) the characteristic annular area has a variable number of cells that can be noted when comparing the two photographed samples. Tubercles are also not prominent and the number of cells of the tubercle-aeropyle area is lower than in C. minimus . C. lorquinii (Herrich-Schäffer) ( Fig. 9 E, F) has the egg surface with a network of quadrangular cells and prominent tubercles. In the annular zone there is a set of cells that are clearly distinct from the rest, having a spotted appearance. Although C. argiades (Pallas) and C. alcetas (Hoffmannsegg) have traditionally been placed in a different genus they share quite similar egg morphologies with the other members of the Cupido genus. Distinctive features are the annular zone with characteristic wavy walls on its cells and the tubercle-aeropyle area bearing large tubercles with aeropyles at their tip for C. argiades ( Fig. 10 A, B), and the thin walls and slightly prominent tubercles in the tubercle-aeropyle area for C. alcetas ( Fig. 10 D).

Figures

FIGURE 9. Scanning electron microscope photographs of a general view of the egg and the detail of the annular zone of the eggs of Cupido minimus (A, B), C. osiris (C, D), and C. lorquinii (E, F). Scale bars 200 (A, C, E) and 20 Μm (B, D, F).

FIGURE 10. Scanning electron microscope photographs of a general view of the egg and the detail of the annular zone of the eggs of Cupido argiades (A, B), C. alcetas (C, D), and Celastrina argiolus (E, F). Scale bars 200 (A, C, E) and 20 Μm (B, D, F).