Pseudopontiinae (Pseudopontia)

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 : 410-414

Pseudopontiinae (Pseudopontia)

Pseudopontiinae is a monotypic subfamily of Ethiopian distribution with five described species ( Mitter et al. 2011, Sáfián 2015), two of which are used in this paper (appendix), P. paradoxa and P. gola

ANTENNAE: The antenna is very short compared to the costal margin of the forewing, length ca. 2.3 mm (2267 µm), and thin. Its 26 antennomeres are mostly scaleless; but the three basal-most have a few scales, which are usually long and apically bidentate. There is no differentiated antennal club as in Dismorphiinae ; the antenna is almost filiform, although the nine or ten distal-most antennomeres are slightly wider ( Fig. 5 ).

ANTENNOMERES: Scales completely cover the first two and partially the third antennomeres; the three basal antennomeres have some chaetic sensilla. The distal antennomeres are fused by an incomplete suture. All are longer than wide, the basal being the shortest, and the relationship between its width and length is different from that of other antennomeres. From the second most basal, the antennomeres are more than twice as long, and up to nearly three times as long, as wide. From the seventh, the antennomeres are expanded, about 1.6 times longer than wide; in the mesial part, this relation occurs until the 16th or 17th ( Figs. 5 and 9A ). The ten most distal widen a little more, so that they are only about 1.2 times longer than wide, except for the distal two (fused), where their length is almost double that of the preceding antennomeres ( Figs. 5 and 6A ). The first ten or eleven antennomeres are cylindrical and have a straight outline, the mesial and distal ones widen a little more towards the middle (barrelshaped, doliform, and elongated). The distal one is dome-shaped (cupuliform) in its extreme margin ( Figs. 6A and 11A ). The first three to six antennomeres lack sulci.

SULCI: Pseudopontia lacks the typical trisulcate configuration (two lateral and one central); in its place there is a single large and almost always elliptical sulcus, occupying 60–70% of its length and 30–60% of its width ( Figs. 5 and 9A ). This sulcus sometimes is reminiscent of that in the fourth antennomere; from the sixth or seventh the sulci are conspicuous and defined, progressively occupying much of the antennomere. The sulci number is at least 23; its shape is vertical-elliptical (although in the first antennomeres they are teardrop-shaped); they have a continuous and well-defined outline. The basal are longer than the distal ones ( Fig. 5 ), as in the antennomeres. In the basal antennomere, the sulcus is in the anterior half and is distinct from the distal margin of the antennomere. In the mesial and distal antennomeres, the sulci are closer to this margin that limits it but never reaches it.

MICROTRICHIA: Pseudopontia show two types of microtrichia - type 1 (m1) and type 2 (m2). Type m1 are shorter than m2; they are separate and give rise to very short cuticular protuberances; they have a smooth and rounded apex; and they are close to the bases of the microtrichia ( Fig. 13A ). Some of these protuberances lie within the cuticular ring of the trichoid sensilla, near its base; they also are found outside the sulci, although they are not visible because of the arrangement of the m2. The m2 microtrichia are long and fit over each other like roof tiles. The ratio between the number of microtrichia and trichoid sensilla (st: m1) is 1: 5 in the sulci of the basal antennomeres; this correlation changes progressively and in the most distal is 1:3.

TRICHOID SENSILLA: Frequently these are shorter than the chaetic sensilla, averaging 14 µm in length. They are surrounded by a circular and wide cuticular ring; they are independent of the m1 around them ( Fig. 13A ). There are tiny pores in the wall of the stalk.

BASICONIC SENSILLA: The microtrichia type 2 (m2) surrounds them and partially cover the socket. They are slightly shorter (10 µm on average) and straighter than trichoid sensilla, and they have many and conspicuous pores.

CHAETIC SENSILLA: These are the longest of all sensilla in the antennal club, averaging 30 µm in length. In the basal antennomeres the sensilla are longer (50–65 µm), thin, and have a rather acute apex ( Fig. 15A ). On the ventral surface, there are seven to ten surrounding the sulci and two others in the basal area of the antennomere; in addition, there are eight or twelve chaetic sensilla on the lateral and lateral-dorsal surface. In the first antennomeres the number of chaetic sensilla is fewer, but it increases to ten or twelve on the ventral surface of the antennomere; they are distributed randomly. The total number of chaetic sensilla per antennomere is at least 20, but their placement and whether the dorsal surface has an equal or smaller number of sensilla are unknown. The chaetic sensilla are abundant on the apical margin of the distal antennomere; there are about nine or ten sensilla very close to each other.

OTHER SENSILLA: We observed only the three types of sensilla described above: trichoid, basiconic, and chaetic sensilla.

PORES: Within the sulci and in the middle of microtrichia m1 we observed a few large pores with diameters of ca. 1 µm; a high and thick cuticular wall surrounds them ( Fig. 13A ). These types of pores are also found in some species of Dismorphiinae , although they are much smaller in the latter (e.g., Enantia jethys , E. c. citrinella , E. lina marion , Pseudopieris nehemia aequatorialis , P. v. viridula , Patia cordillera sspp., and P. orise ).

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Figures

FIGURE 5. Composition from SEM of antenna and distal and medial antennomeres in Pseudopontia gola (x 200).

FIGURE 6. (A – D). Antennal club of Dismorphiinae and Pseudopontiinae species. A. Antennal apex in Pseudopontia paradoxa (x 220); B. Leptidea juvernica ♂ (x 140); C. Leptidea gigantea ♂ (x 90); D. L. gigantea ♀ (x 70).

FIGURE 9. (A – D). Mesial scaleless antennomeres I of Pseudopontiinae and Dismorphiinae species (from the scaleless baseline). A. Tenth antennomere in antenna of Pseudopontia paradoxa (x 270); B. Fourth antennomere in the antennal club of Leptidea gigantea ♂ (x 500); C. Fifth antennomere in L. gigantea ♀ (x 375); D. Fifth antennomere of Enantia citrinella ♂ (x 370).

FIGURE 11. (A – F). Distal antennomeres fused in Dismorphiinae and location of lateral sulci. A. Pseudopontia gola (x 450) where there is a ventral unfinished division; B. Enantia citrinella ♂ (x 200); it can observed the ventral fusion of three antennomeres and the dorsal division between the last distals (two fused); C. Dismorphia eunoe eunoe ♀ (x 350), where there is apparently no fusion of the distal antennomeres; D. Moschoneura pinthous monica ♂ (x 300) where the fusion / division is shown in the distal antennomere; E. Patia cordillera cordillera ♀ (x 170); F. Dorsal view of the scaleless club of Pseudopieris sp. nov. ♀ (x 80) in which it can observed an asymmetric lateral, lateral-dorsal, and dorsal distribution of the lateral sulci.

FIGURE 13. (A – F). Trichoid sensilla in central sulci of Pseudopontiinae and Dismorphiinae. A. Pseudopontia paradoxa (x 4.0 k), with large pore (p) among microtrichia (m 1) and small cuticular prominences (pc); B. Leptidea juvernica ♂ (x 3.5 k; LCCA 10 kV; WIDTH 37.7 µm) with prominences (pc), more abundant; C. Enantia citrinella ♂ (x 2.7 k) with pores (p), like P. paradoxa, but scarcer; bases of sensilla with ornamentations (arrow); D. Pseudopieris sp. nov. ♂ (x 3.5 k) has the shorter sensilla; E. Lieinix neblina ♂ (x 3.5 k), the bases of the sensilla highly ornamented (arrows); F. Dismorphia amphione isolda ♀ (x 3.5 k).

FIGURE 15. Types of chaetic sensilla in Pseudopontinae and Dismorphiinae. A. sq 1 in Pseudopontia paradoxa (x 1.8 k) where the sensilas are very long and thin; B. sq 1 in Leptidea amurensis amurensis ♂ (x 4.5 k), C. sq 2 in Moschoneura pinthous patricia ♂ (x 2.3 k); D. sq 3 found in Enantia jethys ♂ (x 3.5 k).