Hypanartia lethe (Fabricius, 1793)

Llorente-Bousquets, Jorge, Nieves-Uribe, Sandra & Flores-Gallardo, Adrián, 2023, Exochorion in the tribe Nymphalini (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): the genus Hypanartia Hübner, [1821] and comparison with related genera, Zootaxa 5330 (2), pp. 151-200 : 167

Hypanartia lethe ( Plates 8 , 9 ) (n=39).

The chorion is 740 µm long and 684 µm wide; its length/width ratio is 1.08 and its width/length ratio is 0.93; the greatest width is found at the equatorial third and is maintained until just before the base, which is approximately 2.5 times wider than the apical portion ( Plate 8 , Fig. A). The egg has a hemispherical shape with convex base and apex ( Plates 8 , 9 , Figs. A). It exhibits ten ridges made up of colonnades with beams, distributed from the edge of the perimicropylar region to the base ( Plate 8 , Fig. A-i, Plate 9 , Fig. A); the most apical columns are more projected, longer, and conspicuous ( Plate 8 , Fig. A-ii, B-ii). Between 25 and 26 columns per ridge are recorded, all with marked plinths slightly off the rail, giving the appearance of ribs in some parts of the chorion ( Plate 9 , Fig. A). The capitals of the columns are joined by a beam, which is slightly depressed at the aeropyles ( Plate 9 , Fig. B); 29 to 33 aeropyles are present along the ridge ( Plate 9 , Fig. A). At the intercolumn, there is a thin, translucent, smooth, and fragile intercolumnar wall ( Plate 8 , Fig. A-iii, Plate 9 , Fig. B). From the equatorial third, the columns are shortened, thickened, and fused to the chorion ( Plates 8 , 9 , Figs.A), so that the beam is observable only from the prebasal zone ( Plates 9 , Figs. A, C); five to six ribs are present between the ridges in this region ( Plate 8 , Fig. A-iv, Plate 9 , Figs. A, C). Starting from this zone, an incipient rough texture can be observed that is maintained up to the base ( Plate 9 , Fig. C). In apical view, vestigial “ribs” that coincide with the projections of the plinths can be seen more clearly ( Plate 8 , Fig. B-v, Plate 9 , Fig. D), which extend to the base of the ridges in the smooth transition zone (see Plate 9 , Fig. D). The aeropyles nearest the transition zone ―at the highest and most visible part of the ridges―present a wider opening than the rest of them ( Plate 9 , Fig. D). The perimicropylar region exhibits an irregular wreath of 11 leaves of irregular polygons from four to six sides, all of them in a well-defined semi-ring; also, there are five additional leaves whose edges are not complete and/or are visible only as relief, without forming a ring ( Plate 9 , Fig. E). The micropylar rosette has seven pentagonal or hexagonal straight-sided petals joined to the polygon and with pointed vertices well-anchored to the central polygon; no texture is discernible within the petals and leaves, as well as at the transition zone ( Plate 9 , Figs. D-F). Two micropylar openings are observed in the central polygon, which is irregular and at the same visual level as the petals ( Plate 9 , Fig. F). The outer walls of the petals are slightly thicker than the side walls. Color N 00 A 30 M 00.

Figures

PLATE 9. Photographs of the chorion of Hypanartia lethe under the SEM.A Lateral view.; B. Detail of the colonnades; C. Basal region; D. Apical view; E. Perimicropylar region; F. Micropyle.

PLATE8. ChorionofHypanartialethe.A.Lateralview;B.Apicalview.i=ridgeincolonnade;ii=apicalcolumns;iii=intercolumnar wall; iv=basal ribs; v=vestigial ribs.