Eurema albula subsp. albula

Eurema albula albula (Fig. 4 E; Fig. 9). Chorion 1230 µm long and 350 wide, 3.5 times longer than its maximum width at the equator (Fig. 4 E), and approximate ratio w/l of 2/7 (h=20). Color N 00 A 10 M 00. Semifusiform —somewhat oblong—with a weak, slightly convex base and convex apex (Fig. 4 E); the basal region is slightly wider than the apical one (Fig. 4 E). The rosette shows three petals with barely visible lateral walls barely anchored to the triangular micropylar polygon, which is on the same visual plane and exhibits one micropylar opening per vertex (Fig. 9 A). A foil of the wreath appears to reach the polygon but does not make contact with it (Fig. 9 A – i). The petals show incipient roughness in the parts closest to the wreath, as well as twice the width of the foils (Fig. 9 A – B). The perimicropylar region has an irregular wreath of 22 curved-edged foils within two poorly defined semirings (one of them incomplete); the foils closer to the rosette are irregular and rounded, whereas those closest to the apical polygons show four to six sides (Fig. 9 B). All foils have a pinpoint texture similar to an orange peel (Fig. 9 B – ii) and walls of the same thickness as the petals and the more apical polygons. The transition zone is absent around wreath (Fig. 9 B – C). The apical polygons are rectangular or irregularly pentagonal, with semi-elliptical aeropyles at their vertices (Fig. 9 C). There are 10–11 aeropyles on the vertices in an apex-equator direction (Fig. 9 C). The polygons closest to the wreath exhibit a rough striated texture in their lumen and a subtle micro-grid of 4–6 rounded polygons per macro-grid cell (Fig. 9 D – iii). Towards the equator, there are 20–22 axes in lateral view (39–43 in total), with fusions and bifurcations in any area of the chorion (Fig. 4 E), and 61–66 mostly straight ribs— although diagonal and slightly curved ribs are recorded throughout the exochorion (Fig. 4 E). The axes protrude slightly from the chorionic wall, while the ribs and micro-grid remain in the same visual plane (Fig. 9 E). The ribs are twice as thick as the micro-grid, so they are easily differentiated by staining and SEM techniques (Figs. 4 E, 9 E). Most macro-grid cells are irregularly quadrangular (Fig. 4 E) with constant amplitude, although smaller at the apex (Fig. 4 E). The micro-grid exhibits on average six elliptical to quadrangular curved edges polygons per macro-grid cell and no texture (Fig. 9 E). Both grids maintain their thickness from pole to pole (Fig. 9 F)—although the axes protrude less towards the prebase—and both blurred at the base, where only exhibit a rough texture (Fig. 9 F – iv). No basal aeropyles are recorded (Fig. 9 F). Eurema albula albula: Ecuador: Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Jesús del Gran Poder, Bosque en recuperación Tanti (0°18’25” S, 79°03’26” W), 867 msnm, 15-IV-2011, J. Llorente y C. Hernández-Mejía (ABD-188); Ecuador: Pichincha: Unión del Toachi, Estación de Campo Otongachi (0°19’15” S, 78°57’06” W), 700 msnm, 19-IV-2011, J. Llorente y C. Hernández-Mejía (ABD-217).