Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona (UB), Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of València, c/ Catedràtic José Beltrán 2, 46980 València, Spain.
Arthropod Struct Dev. 2020 Jul;57:100947. doi: 10.1016/j.asd.2020.100947. Epub 2020 Jun 5.
The covering by scales of the wings of Lepidoptera contributes to multiple functions that are critical for their survival and reproduction. In order to gain a better understanding about their distribution, we have exhaustively studied 4 specimens of Colias crocea (Geoffroy, 1785). We have quantified the sources of variability affecting scale density. The results indicate that the scale covering of butterfly wings may be remarkably heterogeneous, and that the importance of the sources of variability differs between forewings and hindwings. Thus, in forewing the greatest variability occurs between sectors, while in the hindwings it occurs between sides, with a higher density of scales on the underside, considerably higher (almost 19%) than on the upperside. It seems likely that this difference has an adaptive value, as the hindwing underside is more exposed (in resting position) to predators. These results are in contrast with the generally accepted notion that scale covering is uniform and homogeneous. Moreover, the cover scale density is independent of the size of the specimen and therefore an average density of scales can be attributed to this species. According to our measurements C. crocea has 312 scales/mm and the total number of scales per individual is about 520,000 on average.
鳞翅目昆虫翅膀上的鳞片覆盖物对其生存和繁殖至关重要，具有多种功能。为了更好地了解其分布情况，我们对 4 个橘凤蝶（Colias crocea）（Geoffroy，1785）标本进行了详尽的研究。我们量化了影响鳞片密度的可变性来源。结果表明，蝴蝶翅膀的鳞片覆盖物可能存在显著的异质性，而且不同来源的可变性在前后翅之间存在差异。因此，在前翅中，最大的变异性发生在扇区之间，而后翅中则发生在侧面之间，下侧的鳞片密度更高，比上侧高得多（近 19%）。这种差异很可能具有适应性价值，因为后翅下侧在休息位置更容易受到捕食者的暴露。这些结果与鳞片覆盖物均匀一致的普遍观念形成了对比。此外，鳞片覆盖密度与标本的大小无关，因此可以将鳞片的平均密度归因于该物种。根据我们的测量，C. crocea 的鳞片密度为 312 个/毫米，每个个体的鳞片总数平均约为 52 万。
