A journey amongst male wing scale micro- and nanoarchitectures of the lycaenid butterfly Trichonis hyacinthus

Zsolt Blint Department of Zoology Lepidoptera Collection

The genus Trichonis

The genus Trichonis Hewitson, 1865 (type species: Papilio theanus Cramer, 1777) belongs to the tribe Eumaeini of the butterfly family Lycaenidae.
It includes two rare species distributed in the Amazon Basin inhabiting pristine lowland rain-forest ecosystems. Male and female phenotypes are dissimilar in such an extent that the sexes of the type species of the genus were described as different taxa under the names Papilio hyacinthus (1775, female phenotype) and Papilio theanus (1777, male phenotype) by Pieter Cramer (1721-1776), a pioneer naturalist of the tropical Lepidoptera fauna. Robbins1986, J. Lep. Soc. 40(3)

The Trichonis female

Females of both Trichonis species possess pigmental and structural coloration in both wing surfaces plus a striped pattern in the wing ventral surface. This phenotype is widely distributed not only in the tribe Eumaeini but also in other Lepidoptera families with diurnal activity, and probably represents a kind of mimicry hitherto not understood.

The Trichonis male

Males of both species are more uniform regarding colouration and pattern: structural blue wing surfaces with black pigmental dorsal forewing apex and with ventral hindwing tornal black pigmental spot. Secondary sexual characters are existing in the wings formed by various scales called androconia.

The male Trichonus scalings

Specimens housed in museums in Budapest and London plus specimens from the private collection of Christophe Faynel (n = 23) were examined. The scale micro- and nanoarchitectures of the male phenotype of Trichonus hyacinthus were studied by optical microscope, and also by SEM and TEM. The following types were found:
Brown scent disseminating scales in the centre of the androconial patch Gold scales in the ring of the androconial patch Shiny grey scales situated distally to the androconial patch Pocked ground scales Pigmentally and structurally coloured cover scales

Scent scales of the androconial patch

Function: scent disseminating? Micro- and nanoarchitectures: specialised cellular Scale form: specialised asymmetric

Ring scales of the androconial patch

Function: isolating? Micro- and nanoarchitectures: specialised, flat and transparent Scale form: specialised circular

Grey scales situated distally to the androconial patch

Function: gluing? Micro- and nanoarchitectures: commonplace Scale form: commonplace symmetric with modification

Pocked ground scales

Function: sexual ? (only males possess) Micro- and nanoarchitectures: commonplace with pocks Scale form: commonplace butterfly ground scale

Pigmentally and structurally coloured cover scales

Function: colour generating Micro- and nanoarchitectures: commonplace Scale form: commonplace

Summary and Questions

Trichonis males possess the following unique characters related to scales, in the tribe :
hyacinth structural blue generated by cover scales (with pepper-pot nanoarchitectures) Is it used for signalling? ground scales with pocks What is the function?

The specialised androconial scales and the grey scales in the forewing underside also occur in other eumaeine genera. They raise several questions too: How the scents are disseminated? What is the real function of the rings? Is there any function for the grey scales?

Thanks for colleagues taking part in the project BioPhot (EU6 12915)