Coenonympha (Lyela) amirica ( Wyatt, 1961 )

4) Coenonympha (Lyela) amirica ( Wyatt, 1961) View in CoL

Figs.: 13–15.

Diagnosis: Small size (forewing length 17.2–19.0 mm, average 17.9 mm); forewing upper side dark rusty red in males, paler in females, with a dark brown outer margin, ca. 3 mm wide; apical ocellus not visible; hindwings above dark brown. Under side of forewing dark rusty red, somewhat paler in females, outer margin brown, ca. 3 mm wide; apical ocellus absent; hindwing below uniformly brown, without any visible markings.

Range (see fig. 30): Central Afghanistan (so far, only Bamiyan province); recorded at elevations from 2,800 to 4,000 m.

Comments: This species is apparently limited to higher elevations and its restricted range in central Afghanistan is close to and perhaps partly overlaps with that of C. macmahoni . Interestingly, from our genomic analysis undertaken these two species appear most closely related.