Karyotype and DNA barcode of Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) cyaneus (Staudinger, 1899) from its type locality: implication for taxonomic and evolutionary research in Polyommatus blue butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)

Abstract

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.