Erebia scoparia doii Nakahara, 1926

Spitsyna, Elizaveta A., Potapov, Grigory S., Kondakov, Alexander V., Soboleva, Alena A. & Spitsyn, Vitaly M., 2024, Redescription of Erebia scoparia doii Nakahara, 1926 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae), Ecologica Montenegrina 71, pp. 193-199 : 197-199

Erebia scoparia doii Nakahara, 1926

Fig. 1

Erebia sedakovii doii Nakahara, 1926 ; Ins . Inscit. Mens. 14: 50. Type locality: «Kuriles».

Material examined. RUSSIA, Sakhalin Oblast, Kunashir Island: Mendeleevo airport, meadow, 43°57'35"N, 145°40'48"E, 13.viii.2021, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg., 6♂ ; seaside meadows with Kurile bamboo ( Sasa kurilensis ), 43°58'28"N, 145°36'38"E, 09.ix.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg., 4♀ ; Tretyakovo stream, mixed grass meadows on the edge of coniferous and broad-leaved forest, 43°59'05"N, 145°38'48"E, 09–10.viii.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg., 1♂ ; Andreevsky cordon, coniferous and broad-leaved forest, 43°53'15"N, 145°37'28"E, 10–11.viii.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg., 6♂ ; territory surrounding the airport, birch-coniferous forest with Kurile bamboo ( Sasa kurilensis ), 43°58'22"N, 145°41'03"E, 11.viii.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg., 1♂ ; Kal'dernyy cordon, Kurile bamboo ( Sasa kurilensis ) with sparse broad-leaved forest, 43°51'30"N, 145°30'48"E, 17– 18.viii.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg., 1♂ .

Description. Male morphology: Wingspan 38–43 mm, forewing length 22–24 mm. Eyes blackish brown. Antennae greyish brown dorsally, whitish grey ventrally. Head blackish brown. Labial palpus blackish brown (its length approximately 2.5 of eye diameter). Proboscis black. Thorax blackish brown. Legs grey. Upperside of forewing blackish brown; subterminal area orange with three black spots (two of which fused) having white dots in middle. Underside of forewing similar to that of upperside, but significantly lighter. Upperside of hindwing blackish brown; 4–5 white dots in subterminal area. Underside of hindwing brown with light grey scales in antemedial and subterminal areas; 4–6 white dots in subterminal area. Abdomen blackish brown dorsally, brown ventrally. Male genitalia: Uncus with rounded apex; tegumen wide; saccus short. Branches of gnathos long. Valva long, slightly curved in medial part, with apex covered with small spines and costal apical process having apex covered with small spines. Aedeagus long and narrow. Female morphology: Wingspan 43–45 mm, forewing length 22–23 mm. Similar to male but differs in underside of wings having light brown colouration.

Distribution: Russia: Kunashir; Japan: Hokkaido (?).

Reference COI barcode sequence. GenBank acc. no. OQ363831, OQ363832, and OQ363833 [Kunashir].

Diagnosis. The subspecies differs from Erebia scoparia scoparia by four fixed nucleotide substitutions in the COI gene sequence: 6T, 13C, 15T, 18A. The uncorrected COI p-distance between these subspecies is 0.9–2.0%.

Remarks. Despite significant genetic distance that confirm the valid status of E. scoparia doii , it should be noted that both subspecies (genetic lineages) of E. scoparia sympatrically occur in Hokkaido. This fact contradicts by the definition of "subspecies" that is taxon living in certain area in the range of species and is isolated from other subspecies entirely or partly. Besides, the morphological differences between these subspecies seem very controversial.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project No. FUUW-2023-0001). We are grateful to the staff of the Kurilsky Nature Reserve for their help during this study.

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Figures

Figure 1. Erebia scoparia doii Nakahara, 1926. A–D) Topotypes Erebia scoparia doii Nakahara, 1926 from Kunashir Island: A, C) Male; B, D) Female. E) Phylogenetic position of E. scoparia doii based on the COI sequences. Scale bar on the tree indicates the branch lengths. Numbers near nodes are bootstrap support values. F) Male genitalia.