Aulocera atuntsensis (Gross, 1959)

(Figs. 9–11, 13, 14, 29 c, 30 c, 31 g)

Satyrus (Aulocera) pumilus atuntsensis Gross, 1959: 268 . TL: A-tun-tse (Nord-Yünnan).

Paroeneis palaearcticus iole (partim): D’Abrera (nec Leech), 1992: 224, P. p. iole pale ♂ R [sic, V] from Yunnan.

Paroeneis palaearcticus atuntsensis (partim): H. Huang, 2001: 97.

Aulocera pumilus atuntsensis: Sakai, Aoki & Yamaguchi, 2001: 55.

Aulocera atunsensis [sic]: Lang, 2019: 147.

Aulocera pygmaea atuntsensis (partim): Lang, 2021: 23; Lang, 2022: 121.

Aulocera s. [sic] atuntsensis: H. Huang, 2021: 354.

Material examined. Holotype: ♂, “Holotypus atuntsensis Gross ”/ “ A-tun-tse (Nord-Yünnan) Obere Höhe ca. 4500m 30.7 1937. H. Höne ”/ “Genital - Präparat: Gross Nr. 54”/ “ S. pumilus ssp. atuntsensis m abgebildet: Gross 1958 [1959] Bonner Zool. Beitr. Tafel I; Figur 15”/ “ ZFMK Lep153457 ” (ZFMK) ; paratypes: 1 ♀, “Allotypus atuntsensis Gross ”/ “ A-tun-tse (Nord-Yünnan) Obere Höhe ca. 4500m 30.7 1937. H. Höne ”/ “ S. pumilus ssp. atuntsensis m abgebildet: Gross 1958 [1959] Bonner Zool. Beitr. Tafel I; Figur 16”/ “ ZFMK Lep153519 ” (ZFMK) ; 1 ♂, “ Paratypus atuntsensis Gross ”/ “ A-tun-tse (Nord-Yünnan) Obere Höhe ca. 4500m 30.7 1937. H. Höne ”/ “ ZFMK Lep153518 ” (ZFMK) ; 35 ♂♂ 8 ♀♀ of paratypes of A. atuntsensis, same collecting data (ZFMK) ; 1 ♂, “ Paratypus atuntsensis Gross ”/ “Li-kiang. (China). Provinz Nord-Yuennan. 5.8 1935. H. Höne. ”/ “Genital - Präparat: Gross Nr. 55”/ “ ZFMK Lep153458 ” (ZFMK) .

Diagnosis. Aulocera atuntsensis has been treated as a subspecies of A. pygmaea by Lang (2021, 2022), but it can be separated from the latter by the combination of the following characters: 1) in the male, the white markings on the upperside of both wings are generally better developed than those of A. pygmaea; 2) on the hindwing the white discal band in the spaces 1b to 3 on both sides is somewhat curved, whereas it is nearly straight in A. pygmaea; 3) the lamina of the androconium (Fig. 31g) is generally thicker than that of A. pygmaea (Fig. 31f); 4) the male valva (Fig. 30c) narrows gradually towards its distal end, whereas it is nearly even in width throughout in A. pygmaea (Fig. 30a).

Remarks. Considering the differences mentioned in the diagnosis above, this taxon is restored to specific status. In the paratype series, a single male was found collected from “Li-kiang, Nord-Yuennan (Lijiang, N. Yunnan)” different from the type locality “A-tun-tse (Nord-Yünnan)” where all the other specimens were collected. The genitalia of this individual were examined by Gross (1959), and the androconia were examined by the junior author. Both the genitalia and androconia fall in the range of Aulocera atuntsensis from A-tun-tse. The only difference between this individual and the rest of the type series is that the white markings on the upperside of both wings are more reduced in the former. Among the 37 male specimens of atuntsensis from A-tun-tse, including the holotype, only one male has a wing pattern close to the one from Li-kiang.

Distribution. China (N.W. Yunnan).