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The Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damone (Eversmann, 1841) species complex comprises from 5 to 8 species distributed in southeastern Europe and southern Siberia. Here we used chromosomal and DNA-barcode markers in order to test the taxonomic hypotheses previously suggested for this complex. We revealed that all taxa within this group demonstrate chromosomal stasis and share the same or very similar haploid chromosome number (n = 66 or n = 67). This finding is unexpected since the karyotypes are known to be very diverse and species-specific within the other taxa of the subgenus Agrodiaetus Hübner, 1822. Analysis of the mitochondrial gene COI revealed six diverged clusters of individuals within the complex. Each cluster has a specific geographic distribution and is characterized by distinct morphological features in the wing pattern. The clusters mostly (but not always) correlate with traditionally recognized species. As a result of our study, we describe a new subspecies P. (A.) iphigenides zarmitanussubsp. nov. from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and show that the taxon originally described as Lycaena kindermanni var. melania Staudinger, 1886 represents a subspecies P. (A.) iphigenides melanius (Staudinger, 1886). Polyommatus (A.) samusi Korb, 2017 (syn. nov.) and P. (A.) melanius komarovi Korb, 2017 (syn. nov.) are considered here as junior subjective synonyms of P. (A.) iphigenides iphigenides (Staudinger, 1886).

Chromosomal and molecular analyses of rapidly evolving organisms such as Polyommatus Latreille, 1804 blue butterflies are essential for understanding their taxonomy and evolutionary history, and the studies of populations from their type localities are crucially important for resolving problems of nomenclature and species identity. Here we present data on the topotypical population of the blue butterfly species described as Lycaena damone var. cyanea Staudinger, 1899. This taxon was described from Khankendi (Nagorno-Karabakh, Caucasus), and rediscovered at the type locality for the first time since it was collected there in 1869. The specimens were found on dry stony meadows with a predominance of Onobrychis radiata Bieberstein, 1810, on upper border of oak forests. Their haploid chromosome number (n) was established as n = 17. Chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA barcode analyses of the studied samples from type-locality provided an opportunity for the critical taxonomic re-examination of Caucasian species of the subgenus Agrodiaetus Hübner, 1822 of the genus Polyommatus Latreille, 1804. The obtained data support the interpretation of the P. (A.) cyaneus (Staudinger, 1899) and P. (A.) carmon (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851) as two different, not closely related species complexes as previously hypothesized by Hugo de Lesse. On the contrary, the treatment by Walter Forster who considered these taxa as two groups of conspecific populations was not supported by our data.

The karyotype of the blue butterflies from the Angarskiy Pass (Crimea), previously attributed to Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) poseidon (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851), was re-examined. In all 19 studied individuals, we found the haploid chromosome number n = 26, including 7 pairs of relatively large and 19 pairs of relatively small chromosomes. According to the chromosome number and karyotype structure, the studied population does not differ from P. (A.) damocles krymaeus (Sheljuzhko, 1928) from the eastern part of the Crimean Mountains. This result does not confirm the previously formulated hypotheses, according to which (1) two morphologically similar but karyologically different species, P. (A.) poseidon and P. (A.) damocles krymaeus, occur sympatrically in the Crimea and (2) there is hybridization between these taxa on the Angarskiy Pass. Thus, only three species of the subgenus Agrodiaetus Hübner, 1822 have been reliably established for the Crimea: P. (A.) damone pljushtchi Lukhtanov & Budashkin, 1993, P. (A.) damocles krymaeus (Sheljuzhko, 1928) and P. (A.) ripartii budashkini Kolev & de Prins, 1995.

We report here the first molecular evidence for the occurrence of Aricia artaxerxes (Fabricius, 1793) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in the Czech Republic. In Central Europe, this species may co-occur with its more common sibling, Aricia agestis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775). We sequenced the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 of darkly-coloured, putative A. artaxerxes specimens in the Czech Republic. We confirmed A. artaxerxes only from a limestone area in South Bohemia (Vyšenské kopce National Nature Reserve), which is probably the only locality of the species in the Czech Republic. This area is located at ca. 550 m A.S.L., showing that the elevation overlap with A. agestis could be high in Central Europe. Other surveyed individuals were confirmed as A. agestis, with a minimum p-distance of 1.98% between the two species. The South Bohemian area of occurrence is probably highly isolated (approx. 190 km) from localities of the species in neighbouring countries, highlighting the conservation importance of the A. artaxerxes population and of the insular calcareous areas in the Šumava Mountains foothills. We used database sequences of A. artaxerxes to place the Czech population into a wider phylogeographic context. The Czech population is monomorphic, consisting of a single haplotype, which is present from Scandinavia through Germany to Central Asia.

Genus Eumedonia Forster (Fig. 21 C, D) The egg of Eumedonia eumedon (Esper) has a micropylar rosette surrounded by cells with rounded walls and a characteristic rough interior formed by undulating ridges. The transition zone is very narrow and the tubercleaeropyle zone has a moderately prominent structure of quadrangular cells with spongy background from which the tubercles hardly protrude (Munguira et al. 1988; Munguira 2006)., Published as part of Munguira, Miguel L., Martín, José, García-Barros, Enrique, Shahbazian, Gayaneh & Cancela, Juan Pablo, 2015, Morphology and morphometry of Lycaenid eggs (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), pp. 201-247 in Zootaxa 3937 (2) on page 233, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3937.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/234855, {"references":["Munguira, M. L. (2006) Tras los pasos de Rambur en busca de la rayacorta en la Sierra Prieta, Malaga (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Boletin Sociedad Entomologica Aragonesa, 39, 423 - 424."]}