[Entomology • 2024] Ravenna nivea ssp. ngiunmoiae • A peculiar Insular Race of Ravenna nivea (Nire, 1920) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) endemic to Yinggeling Mountain of Hainan, suggesting heterogeneous geological history of Mountain Formation of the Island

  

 Ravenna nivea ssp. ngiunmoiae Lo & Hsu,  

 

in Hsu​, Lo et Lin. 2024. 

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17172

Abstract 

A peculiar population of Ravenna nivea (Nire, 1920) was discovered from the Yinggeling Mountain Mass of central Hainan. Its wing pattern and COI barcode data show considerable distinction from other geographic populations of R. nivea, including that of Bawangling, approximately only 40 km away and also located in Hainan. The p-distance value of the COI barcode between the Yinggeling and Bawangling populations was 1.1%, considerably higher than the value (0.6%) between Bawangling population and populations in eastern China, where the subspecific name howarthi Saigusa, 1993 applies. The population is regarded as a distinct subspecies ngiunmoiae Lo & Hsu, subsp. nov. The distinctness and high degree of COI haplotype diversity of R. nivea found in Hainan and Taiwan suggest continental islands may serve as glacial refugees for the butterfly and other organisms during previous glaciations, and the presence of the relict populations of montane butterflies like R. nivea may provide useful clues towards a better understanding of the geological history of mountain formation within islands.

Adults of Ravenna nivea.
(A) ssp. howarthi Saigusa, male, upperside, Bawangling, Hainan. (B) Undersides. (C) Same, female, upperides. (D) Undersides.
(E) ssp. ngiunmoiae Lo & Hsu, subsp. nov., paratype, male, upperside, Yinggeling, Hainan. (F) Undersides. (G) Same, holotype, female, upperside. (H) Undersides.

Adults of Ravenna nivea ssp. ngiunmoiae Lo & Hsu, subsp. nov., Yinggeling, Hainan. 
paratype, male, (E) upperside, (F) Underside. 
holotype, female,(G) upperside. (H) Underside.

 

Yu-Feng Hsu​, Yik Fui Philip Lo and Rung-Juen Lin. 2024. Discovery of A peculiar Insular Race of Ravenna nivea (Nire, 1920) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) endemic to Yinggeling Mountain of Hainan, suggesting heterogeneous geological history of Mountain Formation of the Island. PeerJ. 12:e17172 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17172

[Entomology • 2023] Cigaritis meghamalaiensis • A New Species of Cigaritis Donzel, 1847 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Aphnaeinae) from the southern Western Ghats of Peninsular India

 

Cigaritis meghamalaiensis Sadasivan & Naicker, 

in Naicker, Chandrika, Kochunarayanan, Jose, Kripakaran, Palaniappan, Nair & Sadasivan, 2023

Cloud-forest Silverline  ||  DOI: 10.33307/entomon.v48i4.991

Researchgate.net/publication/377178561

ABSTRACT

A new species Cigaritis meghamalaiensis sp. nov. (Lycaenidae, Aphnaeinae) is described from the Meghamalai hills of the Periyar landscape of the southern Western Ghats. Images of adults and illustrations of male genitalia are presented. Information on myrmecophilous immature stages is provided and its ecology is discussed. The new species is very distinct from all the known Cigaritis species in WG, and is diagnosed based on the following combination of characters–upper side of both wings marked extensively in blue; discal and post-discal bands on forewing underside conjoined and lying parallel from their origin at the costa; post-basal band in hindwing underside continuous and not broken into three smaller bands and this post-basal band ends at vein1b, is not continued along it to reach discal band. The discal and post-discal bands on the underside of the forewing is conjoined and lying parallel from their origin at the costa which is a unique feature that distinguishes the new species from all other Cigaritis species occurring in Peninsular India and Sri Lanka. A key to all known species of Cigaritis from the Western Ghats is provided.

Family Lycaenidae Leach, 1815

Subfamily Aphnaeinae Distant, 1884

Genus Cigaritis Donzel, 1847

Cigaritis meghamalaiensis sp. nov. Images of the types and paratypes.
A and B – TLRG 1001 Holotype male, A – dorsal and B ventral views; C and D –TLRG 1002, Paratype male, C – dorsal and D – ventral view; D and E – paratype female TLRG 1003, D – dorsal view and E – ventral view; F and G – paratype female TLRG1004, F – dorsal view and G –ventral view. All images © Kalesh Sadasivan

Cigaritis meghamalaiensis sp. nov. Field images of males, females and seasonal forms.
 A–male. Typicalcolor; B–female, typical color; C–male upperside; D–female upperside;
E–dry season male underside; F–dryseason female underside; G–mating; H–oviposition. All images © Ramasamy Naicker 

Cigaritis meghamalaiensis Sadasivan & Naicker sp. nov.

Etymology: The new species is named after the Meghamalai region where it was discovered. Meghamalai means ‘cloud mountain’, reflecting the montane habitat of this very local species, which is restricted to the sub-tropical evergreen ‘sholas’ or cloud forests of the Periyar landscape. We suggest the common name ‘Cloud-forest Silverline’.

Cigaritis meghamalaiensis sp. nov., habitat and host plants.
A–Sub-tropical Evergreen forests of Meghamalais (1400m ASL) © Ramasamy Naicker; B–Neolitsea cassia (L.), Kosterm., a host tree © Kalesh Sadasivan;
C–typical climate inside the misty cloud forests © Jebin Jose; D–female ovipositing inside Crematogaster nest on Clerodendrum infortunatum L. © Ramasamy Naicker

  

S. Ramasamy Kamaya Naicker, Sujitha Prabhakaran Chandrika, Baiju Kochunarayanan, Jebine Jose, Manoj Kripakaran, Rajkumar Chidambaram Palaniappan, Vinayan Padmanabhan Nair and Kalesh Sadasivan. 2023. A New Species of Cigaritis Donzel, 1847 (Lycaenidae, Aphnaeinae) from the southern Western Ghats of Peninsular India. ENTOMON. 48(4); 553–566. DOI:  10.33307/entomon.v48i4.991

  www.entomon.in/index.php/Entomon/article/view/991

  Researchgate.net/publication/377178561_A_new_species_of_Cigaritis_from_the_southern_Western_Ghats_of_Peninsular_India

 facebook.com/TNHS2011/posts/747562457408766

[Entomology • 2023] Phengaris chloe • A New Species of the Genus Phengaris (s. str.) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from China

Phengaris chloe

 Mo, Jia, Xu, Wang & Ma, 2023

DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5352.2.9

Abstract

A new species of the genus Phengaris Doherty, 1891 (s. str.), namely Phengaris chloe sp. nov., has been discovered in Wuyi Mountain National Park, E. China. This species is markedly different from the other members in the genus Phengaris Doherty, 1891 (s. str.) and can be identified by the following characteristics: Forewing without markings in the distal of space CuA1 and CuA2, the marginal marking of underside wings weaker than other species in this genus and the distinct short protuberance at distal of valve. Photographs of adults and male genitalia are provided. A key to the Phengaris (s. str.) species based on wing pattern and male genitalia morphology is presented.

Keywords: Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Phengaris, morphology, Wuyi Mountain National Park

Phengaris chloe sp. nov.

 

Shi-Fang Mo, Feng-Hai Jia, Xin-Yu Xu, Min Wang and Fang-Zhou Ma. 2023. A New Species of the Genus Phengaris (s. str.) (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) from China. Zootaxa. 5352(2); 284-288. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5352.2.9

[Entomology • 2017] Polommatus (Agrodiaetus) australorossicus • A New Butterfly Species from south Russia revealed through Chromosomal and Molecular Analysis of the Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damonides complex (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)

[upper] Polommatus (Agrodiaetus) australorossicus 

Lukhtanov & Dantchenko, 2017

[lower] Polyommatus  (A.)  shamil (Dantchenko, 2000)

 DOI:  10.3897/CompCytogen.v11i4.20072 

Abstract

Finding a new species is a rare event in easy-to-see and well-studied organisms like butterflies, especially if they inhabit well-explored areas such as the Western Palaearctic. However, even in this region, gaps in taxonomic knowledge still exist and here we report such a discovery. Using a combined analysis of chromosomal and molecular markers we demonstrate that Polyommatus blue populations from Daghestan (South Russia), previously identified as P. aserbeidschanus, represent in fact a new species which is described here as P. australorossicus sp. n. We also show that the enigmatic Polyommatus damonides described as a form of Polyommatus damone and later considered as an entity similar to P. poseidon or P. ninae is conspecific with a taxon previously known as P. elbursicus. As a result of our study, we propose several taxonomic changes within the P. damonides species complex and suggest the following new combinations: P. damonides elbursicus Forster, 1956, comb. n. and P. damonides gilanensis Eckweiler, 2002, comb. n.

Keywords: Ancestral polymorphism, biodiversity, chromosomes, chromosomal fusion/fission, COI, cryptic species, DNA barcoding, incomplete lineage sorting, inverted meiosis, karyosystematics, molecular phylogenetics, mitochondrial introgression, phylogeography, speciation

Figure 9. Specimens of Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) australorossicus sp. n. and P. (A.) shamil. Both samples collected in Gunib (Russia, Caucasus, Daghestan, Gimrinsky Range, 1600-1800 m), 14 August 1997, by A. Dantchenko.
 a, b upperside (a) and underside (b) of the holotype of Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) australorossicus sp. n. DK-27-97, n=23; arrow indicates basal black spot
c, d upperside (c) and underside (b) of the paratype of Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) shamil, CCDB-17947_B11, DK-97-18, n=17, 2n=34. Bar = 10 mm. 

Polommatus (Agrodiaetus) australorossicus sp. n.

Diagnosis: Phenotypically P. (A.) australorossicus sp. n. is practically indistinguishable from allopatric closely related P. ninae, P. aserbeidschanus and P. lukhtanovi but the ground colour of the underside of the hindwings is grey in the new species, with ocherous tint, not light or dark brown. The new species differs from sympatric (syntopic and synchronous) P. shamil (Fig. 9c, d) by specific structure of costal area of the forewings in males (Fig. 10). The submarginal row of spots on the forewing underside is more blurred (Fig. 9b), not sharp and clear visible as in P. shamil (Fig. 9d). Additionally, basal black spots are usually present on the underside of the forewings in P. (A.) australorossicus (Fig. 9b); however, this character is not constant.

Habitat and biology: Stony steppe and dry meadows from 1500 up to 2000 m a.s.l. Flight period: mid-July to end of August, in a single generation. The new species flights syntopically and synchronously with P. shamil but on average about one decade earlier. Host plant is preliminary determined as Astragalus buschiorum (Fabaceae). Hibernation as first instar larvae.

 Vladimir A. Lukhtanov and Alexander V. Dantchenko. 2017. A New Butterfly Species from south Russia revealed through Chromosomal and Molecular Analysis of the Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damonides complex (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Comparative Cytogenetics. 11(4); 769-795.  DOI:  10.3897/CompCytogen.v11i4.20072

New butterfly species discovered in Russia with an unusual set of 46 chromosomes https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171127105922.htm