Plebejus idas cleobis ( Bremer, 1861 )

Churkin, Sergei V. & Yakovlev, Roman V., 2024, New data about Plebejus idas (Linnaeus, 1761) (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) from Russia, with the description of the new subspecies, Ecologica Montenegrina 73, pp. 106-115 : 110-111

3. Plebejus idas cleobis ( Bremer, 1861) .

Lycaena cleobis Bremer, 1861: 554-555 . Neue Lepidopteren aus Ost-Sibirien und dem Amur-Lande, gesammelt von Radde und Maack. – Mel. Biol. Acad. Sci. St.-Petersb. 3: 472.

TL: “Nord. Seite Baikal” (left mouth of the Upper Angara River, near the village of Kholodnaya, appr. 55°52ʹ32ʹʹN, 109°45ʹ47ʹʹE)

Figures 1 (upperside) − 2 (underside): 9−13.

Material: 25 males, 5 females, Buryatia, North Baikal distr., Verkhnyaya Angara r., Novyi Uoyan vic., 5− 7.07.2006, A. Kryukov leg. ; 2 males, Buryatia, Verkhnyaya Angara r. valley, Ognei vic., 1.07.2001, A. Brinev leg.

Description (only taxonomically important characters). FW length 15−17 mm in males and females.

Male

Wings upperside violet-blue with blue shine (even the purple butterflies flash with blue). In general, color resembles that of ssp. ternejana Kurentsov, 1970 ( Figs 1−2 : 14), not that bright and unicolorous like in ssp. tancrei Graeser, 1888 .

Wings slightly extended, black marginal stripe usually narrow, within 1 mm, often non-contrasting, or with non-contrasting inner border. Veins underlined with black.

HW underside whitish, with slight grey tint in basal half, pattern typical of the species, spots size small or standard.

FW underside: submarginal pattern non complete, reduced, especially from costal portion.

HW underside: spots of postdiscal band without white rings, often shaped as tiny black dots, orange segments of submarginal spots merging together, outer segments of spots magnified, rounded, not flat, metallic scales poorly developed – as a rule, well noticeable only in one cubital spot.

Female. Brown, similar to female of previous subspecies, with non-contrasting and lighter underside, metallic scales not developed, orange segments magnified.

Variability. High, but not excessive, butterfly easily recognized, sharp forms are rare. Stale specimens take on violet hue as well as prepared specimens over time. Darkened specimens quite rare.

Bionomics. Meadows along the railway, background species. Food plant – Astragalus sp. or related Fabacea (A. Kryukov, pers. comm.). Flies together with Melitaea phoebe Den et Schiff., 1875 , Plebejus sp. (argyrognomon -complex).

Distribution. Obviously, all the Lower Angara river valley (about 200 km). There are no data from the eastern coast of northern portion of Baikal, as well as from the Vitim tributaries, the area around the BAM after the Severomuysky tunnel, despite numerous expeditions.

Note. Of great interest is a small series (4 males), collected in the vicinity of Kachug. Butterflies have wide marginal stripe (2−4 mm) and sharp black veins, resembling subsolanus , but the underside is light, with reduced metallic scales ( Figs 1−2 : 16). The series is too small to understand whether we deal with an extremely diverse hybrid population, or we are talking about a subspecies inhabiting the upper reaches of the river Lena.

Figures

Figure 1. Adult specimens of Plebejus, upper side: 1 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., Nizhneudinsk, B. Uk r., 1.07.1999, S. Koleshichenko leg. 2 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., Ol’khon distr., Kosaya Step’, 10.07.2003, S. Koleshichenko leg. 3 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., 10 km E Kultuk v., 27.06.2003, S. Churkin leg. 4 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, female, same data as 1. 5 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, holotype, male, Russia, East Sayan, Burjatia, Oka r. valley, 20 km SW Khuzhyr v., Zham-Bolot spring, 1500 -1600m, 2.07.2023 S.Churkin leg. 6 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, male, same data as 5. 7 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, male, same data as 5. 8 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, female, same data as 5. 9 – Plebejus idas cleobis, male, North Baikal reg., Verkhnyaya Angara r., Novyi Uoyan vic., 5−7.07.2006, A. Kryukov leg. 10 – Plebejus idas cleobis, male, same data as 9. 11 – Plebejus idas cleobis, male, same data as 9. 12 – Plebejus idas cleobis, female, same data as 9. 13 – Plebejus idas cleobis, female, same data as 9 (dark form). 14 – Plebejus idas ternejana, male, Russia, Far East, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, 13.07.2005. 15 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, female (dark form), same data as 5. 16 – Plebejus idas ssp.?- male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., Lena r., 8 km NNW Kachug v., 24.06.2023, S. Churkin leg.

Figure 2. Adult specimens of Plebejus, under side: 1 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., Nizhneudinsk, B. Uk r., 1.07.1999, S. Koleshichenko leg. 2 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., Ol’khon distr., Kosaya Step’, 10.07.2003, S. Koleshichenko leg. 3 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., 10 km E Kultuk v., 27.06.2003, S. Churkin leg. 4 – Plebejus idas subsolanus, female, same data as 1. 5 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, holotype, male, Russia, East Sayan, Burjatia, Oka r. valley, 20 km SW Khuzhyr v., Zham-Bolot spring, 1500−1600 m, 2.07.2023, S. Churkin leg. 6 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, male, same data as 5. 7 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, male, same data as 5. 8 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, female, same data as 5. 9 – Plebejus idas cleobis, male, North Baikal reg., Verkhnyaya Angara r., Novyi Uoyan vic., 5−7.07.2006, A. Kryukov leg. 10 – Plebejus idas cleobis, male, same data as 9. 11 – Plebejus idas cleobis, male, same data as 9. 12 – Plebejus idas cleobis, female, same data as 9. 13 – Plebejus idas cleobis, female, same data as 9 (dark form). 14 – Plebejus idas ternejana, male, Russia, Far East, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, 13.07.2005. 15 – Plebejus idas reshetnikovi ssp. nova, paratype, female (dark form), same data as 5. 16 – Plebejus idas ssp.?- male, Russia, Siberia, Irkutsk reg., Lena r., 8 km NNW Kachug v., 24.06.2023, S. Churkin leg.