Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) kozlovi kozlovi Zhdanko, 1996

Krupitsky, Anatoly V., 2021, Taxonomy of the Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) davidi (Oberthür, 1881) species group with the description of two new taxa from Russia and China (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), Zootaxa 4966 (5), pp. 501-518 : 503-504

Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) kozlovi kozlovi Zhdanko, 1996 , stat. rev.

( Figs. 1 –3, 16, 25, 28, 36)

Neolycaena kozlovi — Zhdanko 1996b: 95; Zhdanko 1998: 657; Lukhtanov 1999: 130.

Neolycaena davidi kozlovi — Churkin 2004: 188; Weidenhoffer et al. 2004: 72; 2016: 74.

Material. Lectotype ♂ (dissected), “Холт, Сев. ГобИ, МонголИЯ, КоЗлов [printed] / 22.VI.–4.VII.[1]926 [handwritten]” [Kholt, North Gobi, Mongolia, 22.VI.–04.VII.1926, Kozlov leg.] / “ Mongolia, Omnegov aimak, Noen-Ula Range (or Sevrei-Uul R.), near 43– 44° N; 102° E, 22.VI.–04.VII.1926, Kozlov leg.” ( ZISP); paralectotype ♀ (dissected): “Холт, Сев. ГобИ, МонголИЯ, КоЗлов [printed] / 2–4.VII.[1]926 [handwritten]” [Kholt, North Gobi, Mongolia, 02–04.VII.1926, Kozlov leg.] / “ Mongolia, Omnegov aimak, Noen-Ula Range (or Sevrei-Uul R.), near 43– 44° N; 102° E, 02–04.VII.1926, Kozlov leg.” ( ZISP); non-type specimens: 4 ♂ (2 dissected), 3 ♀ (2 dissected), Mongolia, Omnegov aimak, Gurvan-Saikhan Mts., 12 km W Tzokhor vill., 2300 m, N 43°24’16” E 104°02’00”, 14–15.VII.2002, S. Churkin leg. ( SChR).

Taxonomic history. The taxon was originally described from the “Northern Gobi” as a distinct species based on external differences as well as differences in the male and female genitalia ( Zhdanko 1996a). According to the description, the main specific character of kozlovi is thick falx, which was actually mechanically damaged and flattened during preparation ( Churkin 2004: 192). Another misleading character mentioned in the description is one spine in each signum of the ductus bursa (two in fact, as in other Rhymnaria species , see Сhurkin 2004: 192). Moreover, the type series was not delimited. Later Zhdanko (1998) defined the type series which included the male “ holotype ” (lectotype in fact) and “ paratypes ” (three males and four females from the “Northern Gobi” and two females from northern Mongolia), which are in fact paralectotypes ( Churkin 2004). These females do not originate from the “Northern Gobi” and thus can not be treated as paralectotypes. They probably belong to N. (R.) davidi irkuta ( Churkin 2004) . The actual collecting data of the N. (R.) kozlovi type specimens was not known from the original labels. It was determined on the basis of P.K. Kozlov’s expedition diaries by Churkin (2004). He outlined the type series of kozlovi by the lectotype male with the label “ Mongolia, Omnegov aimak, Noen-Ula Range (or Sevrei-Uul R.), near 43– 44° N; 102° E, 2– 4.06.1926, Kozlov leg.” and the sole paralectotype female with the same label but another date (“2–4.VII.926”). Churkin (2004) considered this taxon a subspecies of N. (R.) davidi but noted that “… kozlovi represents a very special race living in isolation … for a relatively long time” ( Churkin 2004: 192). The treatment of kozlovi as a subspecies of N. (R.) davidi was accepted in the subsequent reviews of the genus ( Weidenhoffer et al. 2004, 2016).

Diagnosis. Compared with N. (R.) davidi , the following differences were found in the lectotype and paralectotype of Neolycaena kozlovi deposited in ZISP, as well as in the specimens from the Gurvan Saikhan Range, which were previously identified as kozlovi and studied by Churkin (2004) during the review of the N. (R.) davidi group: ventral side of wings strongly dusted with whitish and greenish scales and greenish basal suffusion, especially in males (brown or ochraceous ventral side of wings, sometimes with grey suffusion in the subspecies of N. (R.) davidi ); blurred postdiscal pattern usually connected with submarginal pattern by white scales (postdiscal pattern sharp in N. (R.) davidi ); narrow linear androconial patch of male forewing consisted of light brown scales (arrow-shaped androconial patch of brown scales in N. (R.) davidi ); anal tuft at tip of female abdomen pale, brownish, nearly indistinguishable from ventral side of abdomen (black in all subspecies of N. (R.) davidi ); ovoid genital capsule with shortened tegumen and nearly reduced internal projections of vinculum in male genitalia (narrow elongate genital capsule with elongate tegumen and well-developed internal projections of vinculum in N. (R.) davidi ); short valva not reaching uncus (longer valva reaching or nearly reaching lobes of uncus in N. (R.) davidi ); short aedeagus with short sclerotised keel abruptly truncated (longer aedeagus with longer sclerotised keel rounded at tip in N. (R.) davidi ); sclerotised part of female genitalia resembling sandglass dorsally, with rather short narrow antrum nearly as broad as basal part of ductus bursae, place of connection of ductus and bursa copulatrix with large rounded hook (in N. (R.) davidi , sclerotised part of female genitalia resembling reversed bowling pin: antrum broad and long, much more broader than basal section of ductus bursae, turning into narrow short middle part of ductus bursae, place of connection of ductus and bursa copulatrix with shorter truncated hook). From the geographically isolated N. (R.) tangutica ( Grum-Grshimailo, 1891) the species in question differs in the external morphology and genitalia structure.

The diagnostic characters of N. (R.) kozlovi compared with the new species from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China described below are given under the diagnosis of the latter.

Taking into account the above-mentioned differences, especially colouration of the female abdomen and those found in the male and female genitalia structures compared with the other taxa of the N. (R.) davidi species group, we consider the taxon kozlovi a distinct species, N. (R.) kozlovi Zhdanko, 1996 , stat. rev. A detailed description of this species was given in the previous review of the group ( Churkin 2004).

Distribution and biology. The nominotypical subspecies is very rare in collections, only several specimens (including the types) are known; it is endemic to the Noen-Ula and Gurvan Saikhan ranges in the Gobi-Altai Mountains in southern Mongolia. The host plant reported in the literature ( Churkin 2004) is a species of Caragana (“surely not microphylla or bungey ”, as stated by the author). Based on the labels data, the flight period is from early June to the middle of July.

Figures

FIGURE 1. N. (R.) kozlovi kozlovi Zhdanko, 1996, stat. rev., lectotype, ♂, Mongolia, Omnegov aimak, Noen-Ula Range (or Sevrei-Uul R.), near 43–44° N; 102° E, 2–4.06.1926, Kozlov leg. (ZISP); FIGURE 2. N. (R.) kozlovi kozlovi Zhdanko, 1996, stat. rev., ♀, Mongolia, Omnegov aimak, Gurvan-Saikhan Mts., 12 km NW Tzokhor v., 2300 m, 14–15.VII.2002, N 43°24’16”, E 104°02’00”, Churkin S. leg. (SChR); FIGURE 3. N. (R.) kozlovi Zhdanko, 1996, stat. rev., labels of lectotype (ZISP); FIGURE 4. N. (R.) k. namkhaidorji Churkin, 2004, comb. nov., paratype, ♂, S Mongolia, Govi-Altai aimak, Onder Ulaan Uul Mts., 30 km SE Biger v., 26.VI.2002, 1900–2000 m, S. Churkin leg. (SChR); FIGURE 5. N. (R.) k. namkhaidorji Churkin, 2004, comb. nov., paratype, ♀, S Mongolia, Govi-Altai aimak, 45 km SE Biger v., 27.VI.2002, 1950–2050 m, S. Churkin leg. (SChR); FIGURE 6. N. (R.) markhasiovi sp. n., holotype, ♂, dorsal side and ventral side, China, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Eastern Tian Shan, Karlik Mts., Barkol Range S slope, 53rd km of 303 provincial road Hami (ĠṀ市)–Barkol (巴m坤ffi), N 43°13’18” E 93°50’37”, 1850 m, 06.VII.2016, A.V. Krupitsky leg. (ZMMU); FIGURE 7. N. (R.) markhasiovi sp. n., paratype, ♀, dorsal side and ventral side, China, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Eastern Tian Shan, Karlik Mts., Barkol Range S slope, 53rd km of 303 provincial road Hami (ĠṀ市)–Barkol (巴m坤ffi), N 43°13’18” E 93°50’37”, 1850–2000 m, 04.VII.2016, A.V. Krupitsky leg. (AKM);