Turanana cytis kurdistana Eckweiler, 1984

Ahmed, Soran H., Krupitsky, Anatoly V. & Majeed, Soma I., 2024, Two lycaenid butterfly species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) recorded as new for the fauna of Iraq, Zootaxa 5537 (1), pp. 147-150 : 148-149

Turanana cytis kurdistana Eckweiler, 1984

( Fig. 4 )

Material: 1 male, Iraq, Erbil Governorate, Choman District, Halgurd Mountain , 36°44’50.3”N 44°50’48.8”E ,, 3077 m ,

28.VI.2024, S.H. Ahmed & S.I. Majeed leg.

General distribution: Western Iran, South-Eastern Turkey ( Eckweiler 1984; Hesselbarth et al. 1995; Tshikolovets et al. 2014).

Diagnosis. Turanana cytis kurdistana can be easily distinguished from the sole blue Turanana species inhabiting the region in question, T. endymion (Freyer) , by wide blue fields bearing dark postdiscal spots on the dorsal side of the forewing of the male combined with reduced submarginal pattern lacking orange scales on the ventral side of both sexes ( Eckweiler 1984). The sole known male specimen doesn’t differ both from the type specimens from Hakkari depicted in Eckweiler (1984) and Hesselbarth et al. (1995) and from the Iranian specimens ( Tshikolovets et al. 2014).

The genus Callophrys is represented by about 60 species distributed in the Holarctic region ( Pratt et al. 2011; Ten Hagen & Miller 2010; Shapoval et al. 2021; Krupitsky et al. 2022; Krupitsky et al. 2023). In the Western Palaearctic Region, 17 species of the so-called “green Callophrys ” species, members of the currently considered nominate subgenus Callophrys , are recorded. Of them, 12 species are known from the Iranian Plateau, which is believed to be the biodiversity center of this genus ( Ten Hagen & Miller 2010; ten Hagen 2012; Krupitsky et al. 2022). In Iraq, two species from this genus are recorded so far: C. danchenkoi Zhdanko and C. rubi (Linnaeus) ( Kemal & Koçak 2018) . Another species of the genus widely distributed in adjacent regions of Turkey and Iran, C. paulae Pfeiffer, 1932 , has never been recorded from Iraq. It is endemic to the South-Western Asian mountains from Western Anatolia to Transcaucasia, Zagros, Alborz and Kopet Dagh Mts. ( Krupitsky et al. 2015). In Eastern Turkey and Western Iran, it is represented by the subspecies kolak Higgins, 1965.

The genus Turanana is represented by about 20 species distributed mostly in South-Western and Central Asia, with only three species known from Eastern Turkey and Western Iran ( Hesselbarth et al. 1995; Tshikolovets et al. 2014). According to the published data, in Iraq, this genus is represented by a single species, T. endymion ( Kemal & Koçak 2018) .

The presence of C. paulae in Iraq is expected, following its distribution in Iran and Turkey close to Iraqi borders (see distribution map in Krupitsky 2016). Turanana cytis kurdistana is restricted to the Zagros Mountains of Iran and several localities in Hakkari and Van provinces of Turkey; therefore, this record from Iraq expands the distribution of this species by more than 100 km. Both species were observed at midday actively flying and feeding nectar on Onobrychis cornuta (L.) Desv. ( Fabaceae ), the host plant of C. paulae kolak , in the alpine region of the Halgurd Mountain at an elevation above 3000 meters above sea level ( Fig. 5 ).

Alpine zones in Iraq are restricted to a few ranges and only cover about 100 km 2 of the country, which is part of the Zagros Mountains forest steppe ecoregion; it is dominated by plants of the families Asteraceae , Brassicaceae , Fabaceae , Lamiaceae , Plumbaginaceae and Poaceae ( Ghazanfar & McDaniel 2016) . Species of these families are host plants, source of nectar or shelter for various lycaenid species. Previous studies in Iraq were mainly focused on lower elevations below 2000 m a.s.l., with the maximum elevation surveyed in Sulaymaniyah at 1800 m a.s.l. (Zewe), followed by Dohuk at 1720 m a.s.l. (Gara Mountain), and Erbil at 1325 m a.s.l. (Dole Sakran) ( Othman et al. 2018; Said et al. 2018; Khudhur 2021, 2022; Khudhur et al. 2024). Therefore, further study on the subalpine and subalpine regions of Iraq is necessary and recommended.

Figures

FIGURE 1–5. 1. Callophrys paulae kolak Higgins, 1965, male on Onobrychis cornuta (L.) Desv. (Fabaceae), Iraq, Erbil Governorate, Choman District, Halgurd Mountain, 36°44’50.3”N 44°50’48.8”E, 3077 m, 28.VI.2024 (photo by S. Ahmed). 2. Id., male on Onobrychis cornuta (L.) Desv. (Fabaceae), Iran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Kuhrang env., Asal Keshan Pass, 32°35′44.6″N 49°57′44.35″E 3300 m, 15.VII.2023 (photo by A. Krupitsky). 3. Id., female, Iraq, Erbil Governorate, Choman District, Halgurd Mountain, 36°44’50.3”N 44°50’48.8”E, 3077 m, 28.VI.2024, S.H. Ahmed & S.I. Majeed leg. 4. Turanana cytis kurdistana Eckweiler, 1984, male, Iraq, Erbil Governorate, Choman District, Halgurd Mountain, 36°44’50.3”N 44°50’48.8”E, 3077 m, 28.VI.2024, S.H. Ahmed & S.I. Majeed leg. 5. General view of the habitat (Iraq, Erbil Governorate, Choman District, Halgurd Mountain).