34.001 Pancalia leuwenhoekella (Violet Beauty)
ws: 10-12mm; Apr-Jun; dog/hairy violet (Viola canina/hirta); Local - mainly on chalk and limestone grassland in S.England, less common further N.
Pancalia leuwenhoekella §1 female
ID: Very similar to P.schwarzella which averages larger (ws 11-16mm). Male P.schwarzella is distinct in lacking any antennal white section. The two species are distinguished in the key in MBGBI4.1 on the basis that the tornal silver spot (the central of the 3 dorsal spots) is perpendicular from the dorsum in P.leuwenhoekella and slightly outwardly oblique in P.schwarzella. It may be that the position of the antennal white segment provides a clearer distinction between the species: in P.leuwenhoekella the terminal dark segment is shorter than the white segment while in female P.schwarzella it is longer (the dark terminal segment ~2x length of the white segment).
Male genitalia: Illustrated but not described in MBGBI4.1 p262, P.leuwenhoekella shown at Dissection Group.
There is an obvious difference in the shape of the aedeagus - being larger, more evenly rounded and with the apical section narrowing to a point in P.schwarzella; smaller, more angular and with a more rounded apical section which does not narrow to a point in P.leuwenhoekella; the anellus lobes also seem more distinctly asymmetrical in P.schwarzella.
Female genitalia: Illustrated but not described in MBGBI4.1, p262, P.schwarzella shown at dissection group.
In the genus description MBGBI4.1 states that diagnostic differences occur in the shape of the lamella antevaginalis. The drawings show that in P.leuwenhoekella the ostium is transverse and at the level of the anterior margin of the lamella antevaginalis (as also shown in the images of §1); while in P.schwarzella the ostium is globular and anterior to the anterior margin of the lamella antevaginalis (as also shown in the image at Dissection Group).
Male genitalia: Illustrated but not described in MBGBI4.1 p262, P.leuwenhoekella shown at Dissection Group.
There is an obvious difference in the shape of the aedeagus - being larger, more evenly rounded and with the apical section narrowing to a point in P.schwarzella; smaller, more angular and with a more rounded apical section which does not narrow to a point in P.leuwenhoekella; the anellus lobes also seem more distinctly asymmetrical in P.schwarzella.
Female genitalia: Illustrated but not described in MBGBI4.1, p262, P.schwarzella shown at dissection group.
In the genus description MBGBI4.1 states that diagnostic differences occur in the shape of the lamella antevaginalis. The drawings show that in P.leuwenhoekella the ostium is transverse and at the level of the anterior margin of the lamella antevaginalis (as also shown in the images of §1); while in P.schwarzella the ostium is globular and anterior to the anterior margin of the lamella antevaginalis (as also shown in the image at Dissection Group).
Dissection
Female genitalia
§1 Tennyson Down, Isle of Wight; 01/06/2014; female; fw 4.9mm
All images © Chris Lewis
All images © Chris Lewis
Page published 14/06/2014 (§1)
