Neolycaena enkhnasani Churkin & Kolesnichenko, 2019

Churkin, Sergei V. & Kolesnichenko, Kirill A., 2019, A new species of Neolycaena de Nicville, 1890 (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) from the Dzhungarian Gobi desert, Mongolia, Zootaxa 4700 (2), pp. 279-288 : 282-287

Neolycaena enkhnasani Churkin & Kolesnichenko , sp. n.

Plate 1 and 2 , figs. 1 (holotype), 2–6 (paratypes).

Holotype: ♂, SW Mongolia, Khovd aimak, Dzhungarian Gobi des., Ushig spring, 1200 m.a.s.l., 27.06.2018, 45°35’ N, 90°56’ E, S. Churkin leg. ( SDM).

Paratypes: 56 ♂, 17 ♀, same data, S. Churkin, K. Kolesnichenko, V. Pletnev, Odbayar Tz. leg.

1 — N. enkhnasani sp. n., holotype, ♂, SW Mongolia, Khovd aimak, Dzhungarian Gobi des., Ushig spring, 1200 m.a.s.l., 27.06.2018, 45°35’ N, 90°56’ E, S. Churkin leg. ;

2, 3— N. enkhnasani sp. n., paratype, ♂, same data as 1 ;

4, 5, 6 — N. enkhnasani sp. n., paratype, ♀, same data as 1 ;

7, 8 — Neolycaena zaisana , paratype, ♂, E Kazakhstan, east fr. Zaisan Lake , 400 m .a.s.l., 2.06.2011, S. Toropov leg.;

9 — N. balchaschensis balchaschensis , holotype, ♂, E Kazakhstan, Lepsy River valley , 85 km NW Saratovka v., 30.05.1985, A. Zhdanko leg. ;

10, 11 — N. balchaschensis emel, paratype, ♂, E Kazakhstan, Alakol depression, Emel r. valley , 15 km east fr. Shaganlogai, overwintering, 400 m, 3.06.2011, S. Toropov leg. ;

12 — N. balchaschensis emel, paratype, ♀, same data as 10 .

Paratypes are deposited in the private collections of S. Churkin (Reutov), V. Pletnev (Reutov), K. Kolesnichenko (Moscow), Odbayar Tz. (Ulan-Bator), P. Beda ( Ljubertzy ), G. Grieshuber ( Ortenburg ); in the Institute of General and Experimental Biology MAS; and in ZISP .

Description.

Male. Holotype forewing length 14 mm, paratypes 12.5–14.5 mm (13–14 mm as usual).

Antenna club with 10 segments, antennae blackened with white rings. Fringes blackish internally and whitish externally from the upperside and lightened from the underside.

Forewing upperside blackish with lightened wing base and apical zone, androconium thin and looks like an indistinctive dash. Marginal thin whitish line usually obvious but not expressed. Hindwing upperside blackish with obvious traces of marginal whitish line.

Forewing underside deeply dusted with gray or light-gray suffusion; anal zone blackish. Submarginal series of the whitish lines partly or strongly reduced, so that often only 3–4 spots obvious, rarely this series fully absent. Discal line white and thin. Small submarginal black spots (situated between submarginal white lines and margins) strongly reduced, at most 1–2 spots obvious, 1–2 more spots obvious as vague enlarged blackish ovals. Thin marginal whitish line developed.

Hindwing underside fully covered with gray or light-gray suffusion. Greenish coating suffusion not dense. Discal line thin and sometimes not very obvious. Postdiscal series of the whitish lines thin and internally outlined by very thin blackish “shadows” which never form enlarged blackish spots. Submarginal spots also partly reduced, never enlarged or contrasting; the orange segment of each spot thin, often erased and even not very obvious, blackish segments visible but reduced in size. Colour of the thin orange segments bright and often reddish. Marginal thin whitish line more expressed than at the forewing underside.

1 — N. enkhnasani sp. n., holotype, ♂, SW Mongolia, Khovd aimak, Dzhungarian Gobi des., Ushig spring, 1200 m.a.s.l., 27.06.2018, 45°35’ N, 90°56’ E, S. Churkin leg. ;

2, 3 — N. enkhnasani sp. n., paratype, ♂, same data as 1 ;

4, 5, 6— N. enkhnasani sp. n., paratype, ♀, same data as 1 ;

7, 8— Neolycaena zaisana , paratype, ♂, E Kazakhstan, east fr. Zaisan Lake , 400 m .a.s.l., 2.06.2011, S. Toropov leg.;

9 — N. balchaschensis balchaschensis , holotype, ♂, E Kazakhstan, Lepsy River valley , 85 km NW Saratovka v., 30.05.1985, A. Zhdanko leg. ;

10, 11 — N. balchaschensis emel, paratype, ♂, E Kazakhstan, Alakol depression, Emel r. valley , 15 km east fr. Shaganlogai, overwintering, 400 m, 3.06.2011, S. Toropov leg. ;

12— N. balchaschensis emel, paratype, ♀, same data as 10 .

Female. Forewing length 13.5–15.5 mm.

Antennae, head and fringes similar to those of males, abdomen colour lighter. Anal tuft creamy or dark creamy. Upperside as in males (androconium absent), marginal whitish line less obvious. Forewing underside without deeply blackish anal zone. Blackish submarginal spots more or less developed on the cubital-radial zone. Hindwing underside slightly lighter than in males. Gray suffusion not so dense but covers all wings surface, green/blue coating suffusion weak and never more developed than in males. Submarginal pattern looks more developed.

Male genitalia (Pl. 3: 1, 4, 5, 8). Valva with moderately widened proximal parts from the lateral view, distal ends rounded with developed thick membranous areas. From the ventral view, valva looks slender; proximal parts obviously longer than distal parts (ratio approximately 6:4, 5 samples measured). Aedeagus with short proximal part.

Female genitalia (Pl. 4: 1, 2, 3). Antrum inflated from the frontal view with a long and thin “leg”, but not so prominent from the lateral view—it widens gradually just after the “leg” and becomes slightly but obviously inflated only at the upper part. Bursa with two signa (first spike much bigger than the second). Posterior apophyses have the same length as the antrum.

Diagnosis. The size of the new species is definitely smaller than in N. zaisana (forewing length is 14–15.5 mm) and nominate N. balchaschensis (forewing length is 14.5–16.0 mm) while N. balchaschensis emel is remarkably bigger than all other marked taxa (forewing length 16–17.5 mm).

Males of the new species differ from those of N. zaisana (Pl. 1–2: 7, 8) by absence the distinctive bluish suffusion on the hindwing underside; in addition, the latter species has a strongly reduced submarginal pattern, and a whitish marginal line is practically absent on the upperside of the wings. Photos of true zaisana females do not exist; according to the description, the females have more developed bluish suffusion while in N. enkhnasani the situation of suffusion (greenish, not bluish!) is opposite.

N. balchaschensis emel (Pl. 1–2: 10, 11, 12) is much larger than the new species; the underside pattern is welldeveloped, complete or mostly complete, especially in females: even the submarginal black spots are well-developed on the forewing underside, orange segments of the submarginal spots are wide and bright on the hindwing underside, etc. In addition, the underside of ssp. emel has a blackish-brown colour, typical for the group, without developed dense suffusion (neither gray nor greenish/bluish). According to the mentioned characters, we cannot exclude the species status for emel; however this issue as well as other questions of the taxonomy of Neolycaena spp. from Kazakhstan is beyond the framework of this paper.

As we noted, the distribution area of ssp. balchaschensis has no possible contact with the area of the new Gobian taxon. However, nominate N. balchaschensis differs in having very light, even whitish ground suffusion of the hindwing underside which are additionally covered with the sparse greenish scales; females have dense greenish suffusion—contrary to females of N. enkhnasani .

The male genitalia of N. enkhnasani differ from both of the related species in having moderately narrow proximal parts of the valva (from the lateral view, Pl. 3: 1–3). Both other species have a very wide proximal part of the valva, in N. zaisana the distal part of the valva is sharply narrowed at the middle while in N. b. emel valva as a whole is very wide and only gradually tapered off.

Ssp. emel has a very big valva and aedeagus (15–20%, i.e. abruptly larger than in the other studied species). N. zaisana has no fully rounded distal ends of the valva; these ends look semi-pointed because the membranous area is flattened and small, while the sclerotized area is enlarged and stretched to the tip of the valva (Pl. 3: 6). From some angles of observation, it looks like a small spike that is featured in the original description made by A. Zhdanko. However, a true spike is developed only in some Caraganian species, in this case it presents the result of the extended sclerotized part of the external surface of the valva. In the new species (as in N. balchaschensis ) the distal tip of the valva is fully membranous because the short and narrow sclerotized area does not reach the tip (Pl. 3: 4, 7).

Apart from the situation with the size (Pl. 3: 10), aedeagus usually has no serious taxonomic value, but not in this case: the aedeagus of the new species has an obviously longer distal part (always around 10%) than the aedeagus of N. zaisana (Pl. 3: 7, 9).

The female genitalia (Pl. 4: 1, 2, 3) of the new species differs from those of N. balchaschensis in having a slightly prominent antrum from the lateral view, the antrum widens step by step, gradually. N. zaisana also has a prominent antrum, but it is abruptly widens just after the “leg” of the ostium; the length of this leg is obviously shorter than in the new species. The genitalia of the females of ssp. emel is not known (it was noted in the original description that it is similar to those of nominate subspecies).

Bionomics (Pl. 5). Sparse bushes around springs in the desert consisting of the Tamarix sp. and food plant Halimodendron halodendron (female oviposition was observed)). Only two such very small plots were found in the area of Ushig springs. It flies with new species of Plebejus Kluk.

Distribution (Pl. 6). Known only from the type locality. The species was not found elsewhere in Dzhungarian Gobi where similar habitats were surveyed. The type locality of the new taxon is 800 km away from the known range of related species in East Kazakhstan (Lake Alakol, Lake Zaisan), and this distance presents the main “body” of the Dzhungarian Gobi.

Etymology. The species is named after Mrs. Davaadorj Enkhnasan (Institute of General and Experimental Biology MAS, Ulan-Bator) whose help with the preparation of the expedition was priceless.

Figures

PLATE 1. Neolycaena spp., upperside.

PLATE 2. Neolycaena spp., upperside.