Satyrium ( Armenia ) hyrcanica bamiana Krupitsky, Pljushtch & Pak

Krupitsky, Anatoly V., Pljushtch, Igor G. & Pak, Oleg V., 2015, Taxonomic notes on the genus Satyrium Scudder, 1876 (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) of Afghanistan with description of two new taxa, Zootaxa 3985 (3), pp. 421-431 : 428-429

Satyrium ( Armenia) hyrcanica bamiana Krupitsky, Pljushtch & Pak , ssp. n.

(Plate 4, figs. 1–4)

Material. Holotype ( ZMMU): ♂, Afghanistan, Bamyan Province, Band-e Amir, 34°48’ N, 67°11’ E, 2900 m, 11.VII.2013, Yu.E. Skrylnik leg.; paratypes (7 ♂, 6 ♀, AK, OP, YuS): 1 ♀, locality as in the holotype, 02.VII.2009, Yu.E. Skrylnik leg. ( AK); 1 ♀, Bamyan Province, 67 km W Bamyan, Band-e Amir env., vic. of Kotak vill., 34°48’09’’ N, 67°05’26’’ E, 17.VII.2013, Yu.E. Skrylnik leg. ( AK); 1 ♂, same data, O.V. Pak leg. ( OP); 1 ♂, same data, I.G. Pljushtch leg. ( AK); 3 ♂, 1 ♀, Bamyan Province, 15 km WNW Bamyan, vic. of Sabzak vill., 34°52’44’’ N, 67°39’10’’ E, 2800 m, 09.VII.2013, O.V. Pak leg. ( OP); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data, Yu.E. Skrylnik leg. (YuS); 1 ♂, 2 ♀, same data, Yu.E. Skrylnik leg. ( AK).

Description. Male (plate 4, figs. 1–2). Head: antennae black, white-ringed at bases of segments, club dark with brown tip. Eyes brown with small pale hairs, surrounded by white strip. Frons black with black hairs on the sides, top of head with black and white scales. Palpi: 2nd segment white with black spot on tip; 3rd segment black. Thorax: upperside brownish-grey with grey hairs, underside grey with white hairs. Legs white with black scales and white hairs. Abdomen: upperside brown, underside white. Forewing: upperside dark-brown, basal area of forewing lighter than rest of the wing, outer margin black. Fringe white. Underside light-grey, outer margin black. Postdiscal black spots rounded, weakly edged with white, smaller than the quadrangular submarginal spots, sometimes reduced. Hindwing: upperside dark-brown. Submarginal orange spots fused into broad band, interrupted by dark veins. Outer edge of band underlain by dark lunules, the lunules edges with paler grey ones near margin. Outer margin black. Tail long (2–3 mm). Fringe white, with black hairs on anal lobe. Underside with bluish-grey scales basally. Set of black spots complete but rather small, orange band very broad, with black lunules in spaces both on its outer and inner edges, black lunules edged with white often connected with white surrounding of postdiscal black dots. Ground colour varies from grey to brown. Forewing length 13 mm in the holotype, 12–15 mm in paratypes.

Genitalia have no significant differences from other subspecies.

Female (plate 4, figs. 3–4). Similar to male but larger in most cases (forewing length 14–16 mm), genitalia have no significant differences from other subspecies like in the case of males.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality.

Biology. Based on the limited observations, it is a very rare butterfly, which occurs at the bottom of canyons and valleys, and prefers rich vegetation with scrub. Imagoes fly in July.

Etymology. The name is toponymic. All material was collected in Bamyan Province, one of the Central Afghanistan provinces.

Diagnosis. S. (A.) hyrcanica bamiana differs from the nominate subspecies and Middle-Asian subspecies seravshanica and badachshanica by well-developed orange elements of hindwing colouration both in the males and in the females—contrast large spots on the upperside and a very broad and nearly fused line on the underside. All the three mentioned subspecies have less developed orange pattern on the hindwing upperside. Orange submarginal spots of the hindwing underside are small in the nominate subspecies and subspecies seravshanica, and medium-sized in the subspecies badachshanica, not fused in all cases.

The new subspecies could be treated as a link between local populations of the species from South-West Asia (which are represented by the nominate subspecies and the subspecies cyri) and Middle Asia (subspecies seravshanica and badachshanica) and probably is a remnant of an ancient connected distribution area, which is strictly disjuncted nowadays.

PLATE 4. Satyrium ( Armenia) hyrcanica sspp. Scale bar equals 10 mm.

1. S. (A.) h. bamiana ssp. n., holotype, ♂, upperside, Afghanistan, Bamyan Province, Band-e Amir, 34°48’ N, 67°11’ E, 2900 m, 11.VII.2013, Yu.E. Skrylnik leg., ex coll. ZMMU; 2. Id., underside; 3. S. (A.) h. bamiana ssp. n., paratype, ♀, upperside, same locality, 02.VII.2009, Yu.E. Skrylnik leg., ex coll. AK; 4. Id., underside; 5. S. (A.) h. hyrcanica , ♂, upperside, [ Iran], Schahrud, 20.V. [18]87, Herz leg., ex coll. ZISP; 6. Id., underside; 7. S. (A.) h. hyrcanica , ♀, upperside, [ Iran], Schahrud, 20.V.18 [84], Chr.[istoph] leg., ex coll. ZISP; 8. Id., underside; 9. S. (A.) h. seravshanica, ♂, upperside, Tajikistan, Iskanderkul Lake, 2600 m, 01.VII.1976, V. Prasolov leg., ex coll. ZISP; 10. Id., underside; 11. S. (A.) h. badachshanica, ♀, upperside, Tajikistan, Pamir, Chorog, hortus botan.[icus], 17.6.1973, 2300 m, M. Zaprjagaev, ex coll. ZISP; 12. Id., underside; 13. Habitat of S. (A.) h. bamiana ssp. n., Afghanistan, Bamyan Province, 67 km W Bamyan, Band-e Amir env., vic. of Kotak vill., 34°48’09’’ N, 67°05’26’’ E.