Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) davidi tannuola Krupitsky, 2021

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 : 512-514

Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) davidi tannuola Krupitsky , ssp. n.

( Figs. 8 , 9, 19, 23, 31, 34, 39)

Neolycaena irkuta — Zhdanko, 1998: 658 (partim).

Neolycaena davidi namkhaidorji — Churkin 2004: 182 (partim).

Material. Holotype: 1 ♂, Russia, southern Tuva, southern slopes of Tanuola Mts., Samagaltai v., 1400 m, 26.V.– 05.VI.2004 (larvae), ex pupa 26–30.VI.2004, S. Vaschenko leg. ( ZMMU); paratypes: 7 ♂, 10 ♀, same label as in the holotype (SChM), 1 ♀, same label ( IYuM); 1 ♂ (dissected), 1 ♀ (dissected), Russia, Tuva, southern slopes of Tanuola Mts. , 30 km NW Samagaltai v., 1500 m, 25.VI.2001, R. Yakovlev leg. (SChM); 4 ♂, 2 ♀, same label ( RYaB); 7 ♂ Russia, southern Tuva, 5 km S Erzin, semidesert with Caragana spinosa , 18.VI.2001, R. Yakovlev leg. (SChM); 32 ♂, 18 ♀, same label ( RYaB); 1 ♂, southern Tuva, Erzin , 21.VI.2001, R. Yakovlev leg. ( IYuM).

Description. Male (figs. 8, 19)

Head: antenna black, white-ringed at bases of segments, club dark with brown tip. Eye surrounded by white stripe, brown with short sparse brownish hairs. Frons black with white hairs closer to vertex. Vertex covered with black scales. Occiput surrounded by whitish hairs. Palpi: segment 2 black dorsally, with white base and white sides ventrally; segment 3 black with white scales on base ventrally.

Thorax: dorsal side brown with grey hairs, ventral side brown, densely covered with whitish hairs. Legs brown with white scales and hairs.

Abdomen: dorsal side brown, ventral side white.

Forewing: dorsal side brown, base of wing covered with long light brown scales.Androconial patch on forewing poorly developed, dark brown, narrow, rather small. Outer margin dark brown. Fringe white distally, brown mesially, dark-brown basally. Ventral side brown, with light brown submarginal area and upper half of cell, darker at postdiscal and submarginal pattern. Margin with creamy scales near base of wing. Transverse vein marked with white stroke. Spaces R1—M2 with white postdiscal strokes suffused by dark brown scales basally. Submarginal area and apex whitish between veins, with two rows of darkened spots.

Hindwing: rounded, with small anal lobe marked with long whitish hairs. Dorsal side greyish brown, outer margin black. Fringe dirty white distally, brown with admixture of white proximally.

Ventral side greyish brown with bluish scales and hairs in basal area and light brown scales in discal and postdiscal area. Transverse vein marked by bracket-like white stroke. Postdiscal row consisting of separate white strokes with strong dark shading from inner side tending to form single band. Submarginal pattern somewhat reduced, separated by veins consisting of two rows of black spots connected by orange scales and surrounded by white and pale scales, with clear-cut inner row of white V-shaped strokes.

Forewing length of holotype 14.0 mm, paratypes 13.0–16.0 mm.

Male genitalia (fig. 31, 32). Falx long, rather thick, pointed on tip; lobes of uncus with well-developed pointed processes; valva narrow, elongate, reaching or nearly reaching lobe of uncus, with ovoid basal part and somewhat shorter distal part slightly broadened to tip and bearing small thorn; vinculum inwardly with large lateral projections nearly reaching valvae; saccus very short, rounded. Aedeagus slightly longer than genital capsule, with arcuate upper cornutus, short, nearly straight under cornutus and with nearly straight sclerotized keel with rounded tip.

Female (figs. 9, 22). Similar to male in appearance. Dorsal side stronger suffused by bluish and greyish scales, dark suffusion of postdiscal pattern less developed. Abdomen with black anal tuft. Forewing length 12.0–15.0 mm.

Female genitalia (fig. 38).

Distal part of ductus bursae very broad, rhomboid, with long triangular lamella postvaginalis divided on two parts by membrane and funnel-shaped antrum turning in very short and thin ductus bursae broadened to base; bursa membranous, with very small bidentate signa, second tooth of signa poorly developed.

Diagnosis. In general, the male and female genitalia of N. (R.) davidi tannuola ssp. n. share all the diagnostic characters of the wings and genitalia structure with the other known subspecies of N. (R.) davidi as well as the colouration of the female abdomen, although the females of the new subspecies are characterised by the larger distal part of the ductus bursae. The pale ventral side of the wings makes the new subspecies similar to the geographically adjacent N. (R.) davidi victoriae Churkin, 2004. The unique diagnostic character of the new subspecies clearly distinguishing it from the other subspecies of N. (R.) davidi is a peculiarity of the postdiscal pattern of the ventral side of the hindwing: white strokes of the postdiscal pattern are strongly shaded by dark brown scales, especially in the males, the postdiscal pattern tending to form a connected band (postdiscal pattern poorly shaded or brown scales absent, consisted of separate strokes in the other subspecies). The four strokes of the postdiscal band in the cells Sc+R1–M2 form Z-shaped marking in the upper part of the hindwing in most of the studied specimens, especially in males. Additionally, the new subspecies is characterised by poorly developed orange elements of the submarginal pattern of the hindwing compared to the other subspecies of N. (R.) davidi . This character somewhat recalls that of namkhaidorji, see diagnosis above and in Churkin (2004: 184).

Individual variation. The intensity of the dark postdiscal shading varies between specimens. The shape of the male genital capsule slightly varies between specimens, as in other subspecies of N. (R.) davidi .

Taxonomic note. Sergei Churkin (pers. comm.) kindly informed me that during the preparation of the review of the davidi species group ( Churkin 2004) he ascribed populations of N. (R.) davidi from southern Tuva to the subspecies namkhaidorji based on some common characters such as poorly developed orange pattern and relatively small size. In the description of the latter taxon, the author united the diagnostic characters of both namkhaidorji from the type locality in Mongolia and the so-called “northern race” of namkhaidorji from southern Tuva. It caused an erroneous treatment of the taxon namkhaidorji as a widely distributed subspecies of N. (R.) davidi (with the range extending from southwestern Mongolia to Tuva in Russia) by subsequent authors ( Weidenhoffer et al. 2004; 2016). It is important to note that specimens from Tuva were not included in the type series of namkhaidorji from environs of Biger in southwestern Mongolia. The “northern race” was not described as a separate subspecies due to the lack of distinct external characters compared with namkhaidorji and the absence of comparative material from western Mongolia ( Churkin 2004: 185). The black anal abdominal tuft of the female and the genitalic characters mentioned above clarified the position of this isolated population and led to consider it a subspecies of N. (R.) davidi .

Etymology. The new species is named after the type locality, Tannu-Ola Mountains (southern Tuva, Russia).

Distribution and biology. N. (R.) davidi tannuola ssp. n. inhabits the Tannu-Ola Mountains in Tuva, Russia, and probably the Khan-Khokhi Mountains in the southwestern Khangai mountain system in Mongolia ( Fig. 42 ); further distribution needs confirmation. Populations of the new subspecies are among the westernmost known populations of N. (R.) davidi . The host plant reported in the literature for the populations of Tuva is Caragana bungei ( Churkin 2004) . According to the data of labels, the flight period is from the end of June to the end of July.

Figures

FIGURE 8. N. (R.) d. tannuola ssp. n., holotype, ♂, dorsal side and ventral side, Russia, southern Tuva, southern slopes of Tannuola Mts., Samagaltai v., 1400 m, 26.V.–05.VI.2004 (larvae), ex pupa 26–30.VI.2004, S. Vaschenko leg. (ZMMU); FIGURE 9. N. (R.) d. tannuola ssp. n., paratype, ♀, dorsal side and ventral side, same label as in holotype; FIGURE 10. N. (R.) d. victoriae Churkin, 2004, ♂, dorsal side and ventral side, Russia, C Tuva, S slopes of Ujuksky Mts., near Seserlig vill., 1000–1200 m, 29.VI.–10.VII.2002 (AKM); FIGURE 11. N. (R.) d. victoriae Churkin, 2004, ♀, dorsal side and ventral side, Russia, Tuva, Ujuksky Mts., Seserlig vill., 1600 m, 20.VI.2002 (AKM); FIGURE 12. N. (R.) d. irkuta Zhdanko, 1996, ♂, holotype, “Irkut // Leder” (ZISP); FIGURE 13. Id., label of the holotype; FIGURE 14. N. (R.) tangutica (Grum-Grshimailo, 1891), ♂, dorsal side and ventral side, 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, A.V. Krupitsky leg. (AKM); FIGURE 15. N. (R.) tangutica (Grum-Grshimailo, 1891), ♀, dorsal side and ventral side, 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, A.V. Krupitsky leg. (AKM);

FIGURE 42. Distribution of the Neolycaena (Rhymnaria) davidi (Oberthür, 1881) species group based on the specimens examined and data from literature (Balint 1989; Churkin 2004; Kosterin 2009; Yakovlev 2012; Weidenhoffer et al. 2004, 2016). Squares refer to the type localities.