Chromosomal evolution of the Ithomiinae (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae): Supporting figures

Anja O. Saura¹ , Barbara von Schoultz¹ and Keith S. Brown, Jr²

¹Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
²Museu de História Natural, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

December 2004

Introduction

The images are supplementary to the ones published in the paper by Keith S. Brown, Jr., Barbara von Schoultz and Esko Suomalainen 2004: Chromosome evolution in Neotropical Danainae and Ithomiinae (Lepidoptera). – Hereditas 141:216–236. The paper has photographs of male meiotic metaphases, one or a few for each genus. Here we show 260 additional photographs. The 73 figures published in the paper are also included here with permission from Blackwell.

Ithomiinae is a Neotropical subfamily of Nymphalidae. They are prime movers of most Neotropical mimicry rings. They show extensive within and between species variation in color and pattern. In addition, they show about the most extensive variation in chromosome number within a single group of Lepidoptera. Within the framework of a broad survey of chromosomal evolution in Neotropical butterflies, the author Brown has fixed individuals from 1008 populations of Ithomiinae; 1437 individuals in 242 species and an additional 350 subspecies gave usable karyotypes. Otherwise we refer to the above paper by Brown et al.

Material and methods

The testes were fixed in the field immediately after sacrifice of the insects, usually on the evening of the day in which they were collected, sectioned and stained as described in the above paper by Brown et al. Dividing meiotic nuclei were photographed with Leitz Orthomat camera using Agfa Agepe 35 mm film. The final magnification of photographs was about 2500x.

Photographs (3 cm x 3 cm) were scanned using a resolution of 300 dpi and “grayscale” mode and saved with “medium quality” as jpeg images. Jpeg- names indicate the species name, the voucher code, chromosome number and locality, and - if the figure is published also in the paper of Brown et al. - the corresponding figure number (for example: Aeria_elara_169_80_GO_fig6.jpg). Abbreviations are used for the locality, the place of origin of each sample.

Voucher specimens are deposited in the Museu de História Natural of the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, accompanied by their unique number. The chromosome preparations, notes and original photographs are deposited in The Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland.

• Figures
• Table 1 – The species, voucher numbers, chromosome numbers and locality codes corresponding to the 333 web figures.
• All 333 web figures (ZIP-file, c. 3.2 MB)

Abbreviations of localities

• AC=Acre (SW Brazil)
• AM=Amazonas (N Brazil)
• AN=NC Colombia
• AP=Amapá (N Brazil)
• BA=Bahia (Brazil)
• BO=Bolivar (SE Venezuela)
• CC=Chocó (W Colombia)
• CH=W Panama
• CM=Chanchamayo (C Peru)
• CZ=Canal Zone (Panama)
• DA=E Panama
• DF=Brasília
• DR=Dominican Republic
• EB=E Bolivia
• EE=E Ecuador
• ES=Espírito Santo (Brazil)
• EV=NE Venezuela
• GO=Goiás (C Brazil)
• HU=Huallaga Valley (C Peru)
• MG=Minas Gerais (Brazil)
• MP=upper Río Marañón (NW Peru)
• MT=Mato Grosso (Brazil)
• PA=Pará (Brazil)
• PB=Paraíba (NE Brazil)
• RG=N Venezuela
• RJ=Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• RO=Rondônia (SW Brazil)
• RR=Roraima (N Brazil)
• SP=São Paulo (SE Brazil)
• TV=Táchira (SW Venezuela)
• VC=Valle de Cauca (W Colombia)
• VV=Meta (E Colombia)
• WE=W Ecuador.

Acknowledgements

Keith S. Brown is grateful to the late Hubert de Lesse and Esko Suomalainen, and to Thomas Emmel, Peter Eliazar and Anssi Saura for cytogenetic training and help in interpretation; André Victor L. Freitas helped in field work and many systematic and phylogenetic aspects. Barbara von Schoultz has received financial support for the Neotropical butterfly chromosome project from the Finnish National Research Council for Sciences and the Societas Scientiarum Fenniae through grants to the late Esko Suomalainen. Anja O. Saura acknowledges financial support from the University of Helsinki (University Research Funds), the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, and The Finnish Cultural Foundation. The web editor Mikko Heikkinen helped in assembling the web site.

URL: http://www.luomus.fi/ithomiinae
Copyright © The authors; items provided with an asterisk in the species list (Table 1) are published with permission from Blackwell
Comments or questions: For data collection, systematics and other interpretations, consult ksbrown@unicamp.br ; for cytogenetic interpretations contact anja.saura@helsinki.fi .