Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) tangutica ( Grum-Grshimailo, 1891 )

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 : 514-515

Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) tangutica ( Grum-Grshimailo, 1891)

(Figs. 14, 15, 21, 24, 35, 41)

Lycaena tengstroemi var. tangutica — Grum-Grshimailo 1891: 452.

Neolycaena davidi tangutica — Lukhtanov 1993: 65; Zhdanko 1998: 658.

Neolycaena tangutica — Churkin 2004: 197.

Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) tangutica — Weidenhoffer et al. 2004: 73; 2016: 75; Weidenhoffer & Šumpich 2017: 278.

Material. 4 ♂ (1 dissected), 1 ♀ (dissected), China, Qinghai Prov., Xining City , 36°36’N 101°46’E, 2400 m, 29.VI.2013, A.V. Krupitsky leg. ( AKM) ; 2 ♂, 1 ♀ (dissected), China, Gansu Prov., Gannan Prefecture, Xiahe County, Xiahe (H河), Daxia River (±H河) valley SE slope, N 35°10’50” E 102°30’34”, 3000–3300 m, 26.VII.2016, Krupitsky A.V. leg. ( AKM) ; 20 ♂ (5 dissected), 15 ♀ (3 dissected), China, Gansu Prov., Gannan Prefecture, Xiahe County, Xiahe (H河), Daxia River (±H河) valley SE slope, N 35°12’47” E 102°29’18”, 3100–3500 m, 27.VII.2016, Krupitsky A.V. leg. ( AKM) .

Diagnosis. This species differs from all the known species of the N. (R.) davidi species group in the very dark colouration and drop-shaped white spots of the postdiscal row of the ventral side of the hindwing connected with the submarginal row by white scales, as well as the indistinct androconia in the male forewing. The female anal tuft is greyish black, consisting of mixture of black and grey scales, in contrast with the black anal tuft in N. (R.) davidi , pale in N. (R.) kozlovi and grey in N. (R.) markhasiovi sp. n. The male genitalia clearly differ from those of the other species of the N. (R.) davidi group in the long narrow genital capsule and the long valva. The female genitalia generally share characters with those of N. (R.) davidi but the basal projection of the ductus is very short.

Distribution and bionomics. Distributed in the Qilian (Nan Shan) Mountains in Qinghai and Gansu provinces. According to field observations in 2013 in eastern Qinghai Province (Xining City) and in 2016 in southern Gansu (Xiahe valley), the host plant is Caragana tangutica in Qinghai and C. densa in Gansu, respectively.