Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) karindus saravandi, Shapoval, Nazar A. & Lukhtanov, Vladimir A., 2015

Shapoval, Nazar A. & Lukhtanov, Vladimir A., 2015, Taxonomic interpretation of chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA variability in the species complex close to Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) dama (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), ZooKeys 538, pp. 1-20 : 7-9

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Lycaenidae

Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) karindus saravandi ssp. n. Fig. 1- map, Fig. 2Bkaryotype, Figs 3, 4phylogeny, Fig. 5, Fig. 6A, B - Underside and upperside of the male and female wings

Holotype.

♂. Forewing length 34.0 mm. Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., vicinity of Saravand village, 33°22.39'N; 49°10.25'E, 2070 m, 22.07 2009. N. Shapoval and V. Lukhtanov leg. In the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). Specimen field code W064, GenBank code for mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene (partial cds) is KT582713.

Paratypes.

87 ♂♂, field codes W061, W062, W063, 21.07.2009; W065, W072, W073, W074, W075, W081, W082, W083, W084, W085, W086, W087, the same locality, date and collectors as the holotype. Field codes W093, W094, W095, W096 23.07.2009, the same locality and collectors as the holotype. Field codes W377, W378, W379, W380, W381, W382, W383, W386, W387 03.08.2009, the same locality and collectors as the holotype. Field codes W370, W371, W372, W373, W374, W375, W376, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., vicinity of Nahavand village, 34°02.57'N; 048°20.22'E, 2170 m, 02.08.2009, the same collectors as the holotype. Field codes W388, W389, W390, W391, W392, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., vicinity of Nahavand village, 34°02.57'N; 048°20.22'E, 2170 m, 02.08.2009, the same collectors as the holotype. Field codes U217, U218, U219, U220, U223, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., vicinity of Nahavand village, 34°02.57'N; 048°20.22'E, 2170 m, 19.07.2011, the same collectors as the holotype. Field codes U228, U229, U230, U231, U232, U233, U234, U235, U236, U237, U238, U239, U240, U256, U257, U262, U263, U264, U265, U266, U267, U278, U279, U280, U281, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., vicinity of Nahavand village, 34° 02.92'N; 48° 20.40'E, 2160 m, 20.07.2011 the same collectors as the holotype. Field codes Z381, Z382, Z396, Z397, Z398, Z399, Z400, Z408, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., W of Borujerd, Kuh-e Garin mount mount., Vennnai, 33°53.89'N; 48°34.03'E, 2150 m, 21.07.2007, the same collectors as the holotype. Field codes Z412, Z413, Z416, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., W of Borujerd, Kuh-e Garin mount., Vennnai, 33°53.89'N; 48°34.03'E, 2150 m, 22.07.2007, the same collectors as the holotype. Field codes V331, 335, V336, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., W of Borujerd, Kuh-e Garin mount., Vennnai, 33°53.89'N; 48°34.03'E, 2150 m, 02.08.2014, N. Shapoval and A. Barabanov leg. Field codes U169, U178, U179, Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., Darreh Takht, 33° 21.19'N; 49° 22.34'E, 2000-2100 m, 18.07.2011, the same collectors as the holotype. 1 ♀, field code U169 Iran, Lorestan province, Zagros Mt., Darreh Takht, 33° 21.19'N; 49° 22.34'E, 2000-2100 m, 18.07.2011, same collectors as the holotype. All paratypes are kept in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). GenBank accession numbers of the paratypes are presented in the Table 1.

Derivatio nominis.

The new taxon is named after the village Saravand, one of the places where it was found.

Description.

Male upperside. Forewing length 30-36 mm, ground colour bright blue with azure tint. Discoidal, submarginal and antemarginal marking absent on both fore- and hindwings. Black outer marginal line on forewings and hindwings very narrow; forewing hind margin with long white pubescence. Fringes of both wings dark grey; tips of hindwings veins indicated with fine black.

Male underside. Ground colour light grey, white streak on the hindwings absent. Basal black spots present only on hindwings. Discoidal series of spots present on fore- and hindwings, although the black spots composing it are minute. Postdiscal black marking very narrow, longitudinal, present only on forewings. Submarginal and marginal lunules only faintly indicated.

Female upperside. Ground colour brown with vastly darker veins. Discoidal black spots present on forewings. Submarginal markings dark brown with orange submarginal lunules well developed on forewing and hindwing. Fringe greyish-brown.

Female underside. General design as in males, but ground colour slightly darker.

Genitalia. The male genitalia have a structure typical for other species of the subgenus Agrodiaetus ( Coutsis 1986). No specific characters in genitalia are found.

Diagnosis.

Genetically Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) karindus saravandi differs from all other taxa of Agrodiaetus by fixed substitutions in mitochondrial gene COI. Phenotypically the new taxon is extremely similar to Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) karindus karindus from north-west Iran, but they have different chromosome numbers, n=73 and n = 68 respectively.

Distribution.

Central part of Zagros Mountains, Iran.

Flight period.

From July to August.

Ecology.

Dry slopes, gorges and plateaus with xerophyte or steppe vegetation, sometimes wooded areas from 1800 up to 2800 m. Butterflies fly together with Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) alcestis (Zerny, 1932), Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) cyaneus (Staudinger, 1899), Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) hamadanensis (de Lesse, 1959), Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) lorestanus (Eckweiler, 1997) and Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) zarathustra (Eckweiler, 1997).