Research Article |
Corresponding author: Bernard Landry ( bernard.landry@ville-ge.ch ) Academic editor: Lauri Kaila
© 2014 Bernard Landry, Giorgio Baldizzone.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Landry B, Baldizzone G (2014) Description of the reduced mouth parts of Coleophora micronotella Toll (Lepidoptera, Coleophoridae), with a new synonym. Nota Lepidopterologica 37(1): 43-48. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.37.7953
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The reduced mouth parts of Coleophora micronotella Toll (Coleophoridae) are described and illustrated. The proboscis is lacking, but rudimentary maxillary and labial palpi are present. The mouth parts of C. micronotella are compared with those of other species of Coleophora, including some others with reduced mouth parts, and their possible adaptive value is discussed. Ramidomia Falkovitsh, 2005 and Ramidiomia Falkovitsh, 2005, a misspelling, are synonymized with Coleophora Hübner, 1822.
La morphologie des pièces buccales très réduites de Coleophora micronotella Toll (Coleophoridae) est décrite et illustrée. Cette espèce présente des palpes maxillaires et labiaux rudimentaires, mais aucun proboscis. Les pièces buccales de C. micronotella sont comparées avec celles d’autres espèces de Coleophora, incluant quelques-unes ayant des pièces buccales réduites, et la possible valeur adaptative de la réduction des pièces buccales est discutée. Ramidomia Falkovitsh, 2005 et Ramidiomia Falkovitsh, 2005, à l’orthographe fautive, sont mis en synonymie avec Coleophora Hübner, 1822.
In Glossatan Lepidoptera, which comprise over 99.9% of the species of the order, the mouth parts typically consist of a labrum bearing a pair of lateral pilifers anteriorly, a haustellum (proboscis) formed by the modified galeae of the maxillae and a pair of maxillary palpi medially, and a pair of labial palpi posteriorly. Mandibles are fully formed only in the non-glossatan Micropterigidae and Heterobathmiidae. In some scattered groups of species of various families and in some larger groups, such as a good proportion of Lasiocampoidea and Bombycoidea, however, a reduction of the mouth parts can be observed. This phenomenon has not been dealt with comprehensively in the literature and we offer some observations in an attempt to explain it in one small species.
As shown in detail by
In the original description,
The head of one specimen was mounted on slide in Euparal after maceration in about 15%
The photographs of the scaled head as well as that of the slide-mounted whole head were taken with a Leica MZ APO dissecting scope and AutoMontage, the close-ups of the mouth-parts on slide with a Zeiss microscope and AutoMontage, and the scanning electron micrographs with a Zeiss DSM 940-A scanning electron microscope in the Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Genève (MHNG).
2 ♂ (one dissected, slide MHNG ENTO 5970), ♀ [Italy] ‘SARDEGNA, Orien. | La Caletta | 2.VIII.81-lux | leg.Baldizzone’; 1 ♂ (head prepared for SEM), same data except ’29.VII.81’; 2 ♂ (one dissected, slide MHNG ENTO 7501), ‘SARDEGNA, Merid. | Porto Botte | 23.VII.81-lux | leg.Baldizzone’, deposited in MHNG. 1 ♂ (dissected, slide MHNG ENTO 7503) [Tunisia] ‘Mauretania | Tunesia-Sud | Oase Tozeur | 28.4.-11.5.1981 | leg. M. u. W. Glaser’, deposited in MHNG. Additional material, undissected: 194 specimens from Sardinia (leg. Baldizzone); 30 from Tunisia (24 from Tozeur, 1921, leg. Dumont; 7 from Tozeur e Gabes, 1980, leg. Glaser); deposited in collection Baldizzone.
Frontal aspect with appressed scales, with short, apparent scaled palpi, without proboscis. Ventral edge of fronto-clypeus slightly sinuate. Labrum not apparent. Maxillary palpi unsegmented, very short, with few scale sockets and setae, with apical sensillum styloconicum. Labial palpi slightly longer than maxillary palpi, reaching apices of subgenal apophyses, with two segments visible, apical segment about half as long as basal segment and lacking vom Rath’s organ. With sac-like rounded structure laterally from labial palpi.
The halophilous biotope of La Caletta, where three of the specimens of C. micronotella studied were collected, is about one kilometer away from the Mediterranean, on the sides of a small canal where tamarix (Tamarix sp., Tamaricaceae) grows. The specimens were collected with a black light in a salt marsh where Salicornia (Amaranthaceae) and other halophilous herbaceous plants were growing. Hundreds of specimens came to light, but could not come to rest on the sheet because of the presence of thousands of staphylinid beetles and flies.
Described from Tozeur, Tunisia, the species is also found in Italy (mainland, Sardinia, Sicily) and Spain. It has also been reported from Iran (
Coleophora galligena Falkovitsh, 1970, described from Uzbekistan, has vestigial palpi and no proboscis. Coleophora daeva Baldizzone, 1994, C. minipalpella Baldizzone, 1998, and C. zagella Falkovitsh, 1972, respectively described from Iran, Spain, and Mongolia, have short proboscis and palpi. These four species and C. micronotella can be associated with the 8th group of
The sac-like rounded structures that protrude laterally from the labial palpi in C. micronotella may represent vestigial mandibles. Rudimentary mandibles were found in all species of Coleophora studied by
The labial palpi in the Lepidoptera groundplan are tri-segmented (
Regarding the proboscis,
Although the reduction or loss of the proboscis occurs in many glossatan lineages (
Several species of Saturniidae have reduced mouth parts and do not feed as adults (
Yuriy Budashkin, Ole Karsholt, Niels Peder Kristensen, Jean-François Landry, Rodolphe Rougerie, Jukka Tabell, and Hugo van der Wolf replied to our requests for information. Florence Marteau and André Piuz of MHNG respectively assembled the plate and did the scanning electron micrographs. Jean-François Landry and two anonymous referees provided useful comments on the manuscript. We thank them all very much for their work in our favour.