Callophrys succuba Krupitsky, Pljushtch & Pak

Krupitsky, Anatoly V., Pljushtch, Igor G. & Pak, Oleg V., 2015, A new species of the Callophrys paulae Pfeiffer, 1932 species group from Afghanistan (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), Zootaxa 4027 (2), pp. 281-286 : 282-285

Callophrys succuba Krupitsky, Pljushtch & Pak , sp. n.

(Plate 1, figs. 1–4; plate 2, figs. 1, 4)

Material. Holotype ( ZMMU): ♂, Afghanistan, Bamyan Province, Band-e Amir, 34°48’ N, 67°11’ E, 3100 m, 01. VI.2012, I.G. Pljushtch leg. Paratypes: 5 ♂, 2 ♀ (AKM), same data, I.G. Pljushtch leg.

Description. Male (plate 1, figs. 1–2). Head: antenna black, white-ringed at base of segments, club dark, its base white below, apiculus brown. Eye brown with small pale brown hairs, surrounded with green scales. Frons green with pale hairs on the sides, top of head with green scales and brownish hairs. Palpus: 2nd segment greenish-white with green scales and white, black and pale green hairs below; 3rd segment black with white hairs and scales. Thorax: upperside grey with grey hairs, underside with green scales and greenish-white hairs. Leg white with black scales and white hairs. Abdomen: upperside grey, underside grey with white hairs. Forewing oblong, narrow. Hindwing wavy with welldeveloped anal lobe. Upperside of both wings greyish-brown, margin dark-brown, tornus with ochraceous scales and hairs. Forewing with dark contrast oval androconial spot. Fringe white with brownish hairs near veins. Anal lobe of hindwing with small brush of dark hairs. Underside green with ochraceous outer margin. Submarginal line developed only on hindwing, not contrast, greenish-white, wavy. Forewing length 13,0 mm in the holotype, 12,0–14,0 mm in the paratypes.

Male genitalia (plate 2, fig. 1). Annulus very wide—about 1,5x wider than maximum width of uncus, abruptly extended in the middle part of genitalia, has well developed internal lobes nearly reaching valvae. Lobes of uncus with well-developed broad processes rounded at tips. Falx slender, pointed at tip. Valva slightly broadened in membranous part, evenly pointed to rounded tip, nearly reaches tegumen. Saccus broad, rounded at tip. Aedeagus of typical shape for the genus, rather short, about 1,25x genitalia length.

Female (plate 1, figs. 3–4). Forewing length 11,5–12,5 mm. Similar to male, but forewing broader.

Female genitalia (plate 2, fig. 4). Papillae anales very thin and long, slightly shorter than apophyses posteriores. Lamella postvaginalis broad, central lobe with deep hollow, lateral lobes pointed to tips, divided from central lobe by rather deep rounded hollows. Ductus bursae short and thick, thinner in medial part, widened anteriorly. Bursa with twospined signi.

Individual variations. Shape and contrast of the white submarginal line slightly varies. Significant variations in the male and female genitalia are absent.

Diagnosis. Combination of external and genital characters, namely rather narrow uncus and valva in males, trapezoidal distal part of ductus with broad base and broad central lobe in females, and small, but rather prominent anal lobe of hindwing, determine the position of the new species within C. paulae species group. Differences in genital characters are of specific level as compared with the other Callophrys species—(ten Hagen 2009), for example, and probably perfrom prezygotic isolation. These differences led us to treat the population as the new species. C. p. jomuda is the geographically closest taxon, so the new species was compared with it.

PLATE 1. Callophrys spp., imagoes. Scale bar equals 10,0 mm. 1— Callophrys succuba sp. n., ♂, holotype, Afghanistan, Bamyan Province, Band-e Amir, 34°48’ N, 67°11’ E, 3100 m, 01. VI.2012, I.G. Pljushtch leg. (ZMMU); 2—Id., underside; 3— C. succuba sp. n., ♀, paratype, same label as in the holotype (AKM); 4—Id., underside; 5— C. paulae jomuda , ♂ (paratype of C. hatuma ), [ Turkmenistan], Kopet-Dagh Mts., Dushak, 30.0 4.1991, 2000 m,. Zhdanko A. leg. (ZISP); 6—Id., underside; 7— C. paulae jomuda , ♀ (paratype of C. hatuma ), same label is in the previous specimen (ZISP); 8—Id., underside; 9— С. p. jomuda , ♂, W.– Afghanistan, Herat—Kala Nao [road], Kashka–Pass, 2300 m, Polsterwuchstformat.[ion], 18.5.[19]56, Amsel leg. (ZSM); 10—Id., underside; 11— С. p. jomuda , ♂, N Iran, Golestan, Shahkuh Mts., 50 SSE Gorgan, vic. of Tahar, 2100–2300 m, 07.V.2009, A.L. Devyatkin leg. (AKM)

C. succuba sp. n. differs from C. p. jomuda by the following external characters: narrow oblong forewing, especially in the males (forewing more rounded, broader in C. p. jomuda ), greyish-brown upperside (brown in C. p. jomuda ), nearly black androconial spot (usually of the same colour as ground or lighter in C. p. jomuda ), reduced white submarginal line on a forewing and fully developed but not contrast—on a hindwing, this line is consisted of bracket-shaped strokes and thus has wavy shape (hindwing with very contrast line consisted of broad white strokes in C. p. jomuda , and usually only one stroke near anal angle is V-shaped). The male genitalia of the new species are generally thicker and shorter than in C. p. jomuda , with broader rounded vinculum from dorsal and ventral view, and shorter and more slender saccus. The female genitalia of the new species have broad divided lamella postvaginalis with well-developed sharp lateral lobes and a broad central lobe (lobes are poorly developed and not so divided in C. p. jomuda , central lobe is narrowed and rounded).

Distribution and bionomics. The new species is known only from the type locality so far (plate 3). Imagoes were found in the beginning of June being slightly worn. See Discussion.

Etymology. Succuba (paramour, Latin)—a folkloric demon that appears in dreams and takes a form of a woman in order to seduce men. The name refers to the serrated submarginal line unusual for the genus members, and wavy outer margin of a hindwing—in the Medieval culture succubae were often pictured and sculptured as a beautiful young girl possessing demonic features such as serrated wings, bird claws or serpentine tails ( Davidson 2012).

PLATE 2. Callophrys spp., genitalia. Scale bar equals 1,0 mm. 1— Callophrys succuba sp. n., paratype, male genitalia (a—general view from ventral side, b—aedeagus, lateral view), Afghanistan, Bamyan Province, Band-e Amir, 34°48’ N, 67°11’ E, 3100 m, 01. VI.2012, I.G. Pljushtch leg. (AKM); 2— С. p. jomuda , male genitalia, N Iran, Golestan, Shahkuh Mts., 50 SSE Gorgan, vic. of Tahar, 2100–2300 m, 07.V.2009, A.L. Devyatkin leg. (AKM); 3— С. p. jomuda , male genitalia, W.– Afghanistan, Heart—Kala Nao [road], Kashka–Pass, 2300 m, Polsterwuchstformat.[ion], 18.5.[19]56, Amsel leg. (ZSM); 4— C. succuba sp. n., paratype, female genitalia (dorsal view), Afghanistan, Bamyan Province, Band-e Amir, 34°48’ N, 67°11’ E, 3100 m, 01. VI.2012, I.G. Pljushtch leg. (AKM); 5— С. p. jomuda , female genitalia, N Iran, Golestan, Shahkuh Mts., 35 S Gorgan, plateau, 2300 m, 10.V.2009, A.L. Devyatkin leg. (AKM)

PLATE 3. Distribution of the Callophrys paulae species group based on original data and reliable data from literature ( Hesselbarth et al. 1995; Nazari 2003; ten Hagen & Miller 2010; Tshikolovets & Nekrutenko 2012; Tshikolovets et al. 2014). Triangles mark type localities. Question-mark indicates a lack of material from the territory.