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The paper presents the first part of the review of the Plebejus argyrognomon (Bergstrasser, [1779]) species complex focused on the territory of the East Palaearctic. The general characters of the male genitalia are discussed, taxonomically valuable sclerites are pointed out. The male genitalia of P. maracandicus (Erschoff, 1874), P. argyrognomon and P. caspicus (Forster, 1936) are described and figured, the species status of the taxon caspicus is confirmed. Three eastern species are reviewed: P. mongolicus (Rühl, [1893]), P. pseudaegon ussuricus (Forster, 1936) and P. transbaicalensis (Kurentzov, 1970), stat. nov. Two new subspecies are described: P. mongolicus okianus ssp. nova (type locality: Russia, Buryatia, East Sayan, Oka Valley) and P. m. barguzin ssp. nova (type locality: Russia, Buryatia, Barguzin Valley).

In this report, we analyze a wild-caught Colias specimen from Kyrgyzstan with unusual wing pattern, which was provisionally identified as a natural hybrid between Colias christophi helialaica Schulte, 1988 and Colias cocandica cocandica Erschoff, 1874 due to its intermediate phenotype. Using one mitochondrial (COI barcode) and three nuclear (Ca-ATPase, H3 and CAD gene fragments) markers, we confirm its hybrid origin and demonstrate that this specimen is a hybrid between a female of Colias christophi helialaica and a male of Colias cocandica cocandica. Our study shows that an analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear molecular markers can successfully discriminate natural hybrids in such a taxonomically challenging group of butterflies as the genus Colias.

The genus Colias Fabricius, 1807 includes numerous taxa and forms with uncertain status and taxonomic position. Among such taxa are Colias mongola Alphéraky, 1897 and Colias tamerlana Staudinger, 1897, interpreted in the literature either as conspecific forms, as subspecies of different but morphologically somewhat similar Colias species or as distinct species-level taxa. Based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers, we reconstructed a phylogeographic pattern of the taxa in question. We recover and include in our analysis DNA barcodes of the century-old type specimens, the lectotype of C. tamerlana deposited in the Natural History Museum (Museum für Naturkunde), Berlin, Germany (ZMHU) and the paralectotype of C. tamerlana and the lectotype of C. mongola deposited in the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia (ZISP). Our analysis grouped all specimens within four (HP_I–HP_IV) deeply divergent but geographically poorly structured clades which did not support nonconspecifity of C. mongola–C. tamerlana. We also show that all studied females of the widely distributed haplogroup HP_II were infected with a single Wolbachia strain belonging to the supergroup B, while the males of this haplogroup, as well as all other investigated specimens of both sexes, were not infected. Our data highlight the relevance of large-scale sampling dataset analysis and the need for testing for Wolbachia infection to avoid erroneous phylogenetic reconstructions and species misidentification.

Colias palaeno (Linnaeus, 1761) is reported from Altai Krai for the first time. The DNA barcode of the collected specimen was analysed and compared with molecular data on European populations of C. palaeno available in the public databases GenBank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and BOLD (http://www.boldsystems.org). The molecular analysis has shown that the specimen from Altai Krai shares mitochondrial barcode with some specimens from mountain populations of the Alps and the Czech Republic, and differs significantly from lowland populations of C. palaeno from Central and Northern Europe.

Natural hybridization is rather widespread and common in animals and can have important evolutionary consequences. In terms of taxonomy, exploring hybridization and introgression is crucial in defining species boundaries and testing taxonomic hypotheses. In the present paper, we report on natural hybrid specimens between Ahlbergia frivaldszkyi (Lederer, 1853) and Callophrys rubi (Linnaeus, 1758). To test the hypothesis of their hybrid origin, we employed the molecular mitochondrial (COI gene) and nuclear (wingless, RPS5, and Ca-ATPase genes) markers commonly used in phylogenetic studies and explored the morphology of the specimens. Our analysis revealed that hybrids bear mitochondrial haplotypes of C. rubi, while nuclear fragments are heterozygous, sharing a combination of A. frivaldszkyi and C. rubi lineages. The hybrid specimens combine morphological characters of both genera. Our results for the first time empirically demonstrate the possibility of genetic introgression between these species and between the genera Callophrys and Ahlbergia on the whole.