Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) persisinus Karbalaye & Lukhtanov, 2024

Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) persisinus Karbalaye & Lukhtanov View in CoL , sp. nov.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C22C2C59-7BF4-4911-B24F-4EE4AF5C64BB

Figs 22-25 View Figures 22-25

Holotype: male, Iran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province (south part), Lordegan District , Koh-e-Rig Mountains , 3100 to 3200 m, 13 July 2024, leg. A. Karbalaye, deposited in the Plant, Pests and Diseases Research Institute in Tehran, Iran.

Paratypes: 18 males, same data, in coll. A. Karbalaye, Iran . 1 male, same data, in ZISP . 15 males, 2 females, same locality, 15 July 2023, leg. and coll. A. Karbalaye.

Description

The length of the fore wings in the holotype is 14.0 mm, in male paratypes 13.0 – 14.0 mm, in female paratypes 12.0 – 14.0 mm. Antennae, palpi, ocelli, head, thorax and abdomen (including genitalia) do not appear to have taxonomically valuable characters for separating species.

Males

Upperside. The ground color of the wings is deep glossy blue. The costal margin of the forewings is lighter, with whitish pubescence. The very distal ends of the veins are darkened. The costal and anal parts of the hindwings are dark brown. There are no spots or bands on the wings. The inner part of the fringe is light gray, the outer part of the fringe is whitish.

Underside. Ground color is light greyish. Basal spots are absent on the fore wings and present on the hindwings, circled with whitish color. Discoidal black spots are present on both fore- and hindwings, circled with white. Postdiscal black spots are medium-sized on hindwings and large on forewings, circled with white on both fore- and hindwings. Submarginal and antemarginal markings are well pronounced on both fore- and hindwings. Orange lunules are absent. The white stripe is present on the hindwings, but not contrasting, it stands out faintly against the background of the wings. The inner part of the fringe is light gray, the outer part of the fringe is whitish.

Females

Upperside. The ground color of the wings is brown, with small discal spots on the forewings. Antemarginal marking is present and is represented by faintly visible light lunules on the hindwings. The inner part of the fringe is light brown, the outer part of the fringe is whitish.

Underside. Ground color is light brown. Basal spots are absent on the fore wings and present on the hindwings, circled with whitish color. Discoidal black spots are present on both fore- and hindwings, circled with white. Postdiscal black spots are medium-sized on hindwings and large on forewings, circled with white on both fore- and hindwings. Submarginal and antemarginal markings are well pronounced on both fore- and hindwings. Orange lunules are absent. The clear white stripe is present on the hindwings. The inner part of the fringe is light brown, the outer part of the fringe is whitish.

Diagnosis. The new species is clearly distinguished from the genetically closest species P. achaemenes and P. shahrami by the absence of darkening of the veins on the upper side of the wings in males (in males of P. achaemenes and P. shahrami , veins are lined with black along the distal fourth or even third of the wings), as well as by the absence of black dots along the edge of the hindwings. The new species is clearly distinguished from P. shahrami and P. faramarzii by the color of the upperside of the wings in males. In the new species this color is pure blue, while in P. shahrami it is milky blue (similar to P. phyllides Staudinger, 1886 ), and in P. faramarzii it is violet. In terms of morphology, the new species is cryptic to P. pfeifferi , but according to DNA barcodes it is very distant from P. pfeifferi and belongs to a different group of species, in fact being a morphologically differentiated vicariant of P. shahrami and P. achaemenes .

The studied paratype of P. persisinus differs from all related species by a significant number of nucleotide substitutions. These differences are:

Pdistance( persisinus / achaemenes ) = 1.22% (10 substitutions)

Pdistance( persisinus / shahrami ) = 1.22% (10 substitutions)

Pdistance( persisinus / faramarzii ) = 1.43% (6 substitutions in 421 bp fragment)

Pdistance( persisinus / pfeifferi ) = 2.89% (19 substitutions)

These differences are much higher than the level of intraspecific differences found in the subclade (0-4 substitutions). These differences are at the level of differences between the sympatric and morphologically contrasting species P. shahrami (males with milky blue wings) and P. faramarzii (males with violet wings) (Pdistance ( shahrami / faramarzii ) = 1.19%, 5 substitutions in 421 bp fragment).

Bionomy. Polyommatus persisinus inhabits tragacanth biotopes at an altitude of 3100 to 3200 m above sea level ( Fig. 26 View Figure 26 ). Distribution. Known only from the type locality ( Fig. 17 View Figure 17 ). Etymology. The species name is derived from two Latin words, persicus (Persian) and sinus (gulf). The species name indicates that the distribution area of P. persisinus is in the part of the Zagros that belongs to the Persian Gulf basin.

Discussion

Molecular analysis of the genus Polyommatus has previously shown that many Iranian endemics belong to a distinct monophyletic P. erschoffii species complex ( Kandul et al. 2007), whose range is almost limited to Iran ( Eckweiler & Bozano 2016). Species of this complex are genetically highly differentiated from each other ( Kandul et al. 2007, Lukhtanov et al. 2023) and can be classified as paleoendemics, i.e. evolutionary lineages that have limited distribution areas despite millions of years of unique evolutionary history ( Cai et al. 2023).

A monophyletic group comprising species P. shahrami , P. faramarzii , P. achaemenes and P. frauvartianae ( Fig. 2 View Figure 2 , highlighted by red) is part of this complex. Until recently, this group was considered endemic to the Mount Zardkuh and the adjacent Kuh-i-Haft Chehmeh massif in the central Zagros. However, it has recently been shown that the range of this group also includes the territory of Afghanistan ( Lukhtanov et al. 2023).

The previously described species P. pfeifferi , P. eckweileri , P. ardschira and P. luna together form another monophyletic group within the P. erschoffii species complex ( Fig. 2 View Figure 2 , highlighted by violet). The species of this group are endemic to Iran ( Eckweiler & Bozano 2016).

All three new species described in this paper belong to the P. erschoffii complex. One of them ( P. persisinus ) belongs to the P. frauvartianae group, and two of them ( P. hejazii and P. ghasemii ) belong to the P. ardschira group. All three species appear to be locally endemic to the Central Zagros. These findings once again emphasize the potential of the P. erschoffii clade to form multiple evolutionary lineages. They also confirm that the Central Zagros is one of the exceptional centers of speciation and species diversity of Lepidoptera .

In addition to morphology, all three new species differ from each other and from previously described species by 9-13 nucleotide substitutions in standard DNA barcodes, which corresponds to the usual level of differentiation between species of the subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) or even exceeds it ( Wiemers & Fiedler 2007). In the subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) , species with such a level of genetic differentiation are usually also well differentiated by karyotypes; for example, P. ardschira has the haploid number of chromosomes (n) n=113, and P. luna has n=73-74 ( Kandul et al. 2007). In our case, it was not possible to study karyotypes, since there was no appropriate fixation of the material. Therefore, cytogenetic studies of these three species are highly desirable in future for understanding the patterns of karyotype evolution in the genus Polyommatus , which is currently the subject of intensive research ( Vershinina & Lukhtanov 2017).