Comparison among the ultrastructures and characteristics of wing scales in 5 species of pine caterpillar moths

Investigation about the ultrastructures of wing scales among 5 species, i.e., Dendrolimus punctata punctata, D. tabulieformis,D. superans, D. spectabilis and D. kikuchii kikuchii, by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) showed that there were ground scales and cover scales, and both of them were hollow scales and their type of covering was type2 bilayer scale covering.The length of scales(length),width of scales(width),distance between ridges on scales(ridgedistance),and the maximum number of the scales ridges(mixridgenumber) were characterized and compared among species. Results showed that there were no obvious correlations existing between the length and width of scales and the length of wings. There were no significant differences in scales between male and female moths, forewings and hind wings,upsidewings and undersidewings either. The discrepancies existing in the width and the ridgedistance of the scales among the five moth species were inconspicuous while the corresponding part of the length and the mixridgenumber of scales among species was striking. The characteristics of scales were analyzed by hierarchical cluster. The consequences show that the similarity of wing scales among different geographic populations of the same moth is higher,i.e.different geographic populations of the same species are usually clustered together.Although the ultrastructure and characteristics of wing scales could provide some evidence for the study of phylogeny,they should not be used alone for species identification.