Phengaris xiushani Wang & Settele, 2010

Settele, Josef & Wang, Min, 2010, Notes on and key to the genus Phengaris (s. str.) (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) from mainland China with description of a new species, ZooKeys 48 (48), pp. 21-28 : 23-25

Phengaris xiushani Wang & Settele sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:444041DE-B941-483A-B705-221E71F2D0F4

Type material. Holotype male ( SCAU): China, Yunnan, Nujiang County, alt. 2800 m, 24.VII.2006, Min WANG & Xiaoling FAN leg . Paratypes. One male and three females, same data as holotype.

Male. Forewing length 21 mm, antenna length 9.5 mm.

Forewing upperside ground colour whitish, with black margin gradually broadened from tornus to the mid of termen and then sharply widened to apex, where overlapped with three darker black dots, one traceable smaller spot each in the mid of space M3 and distal cell. Cilia are white checkered with black. Underside ground color same as upperside, with black spots in mid and distal cell, and postdiscal, submarginal and marginal series. Postdiscal series with the spots in spaces M1 and M2 prominently shifted outwardly. Submarginal series is much broader than marginal series.

Hindwing upperside ground color similar to that on forewing, with traceable markings which shine through from the underside. Cilia almost white, with fine black checkers at the end of each vein. Underside ground color same as upperside, with black spots consisting of discal, postdiscal, submarginal and marginal series, as well as a black spot each at basal and mid space Sc+ R 1. The black spot of postdiscal series in space CuA2 shifted outwardly.

Male genitalia. Heavily sclerotized, tegumen broad and large, vinculum narrow, saccus absent, brachia stout and short, valve oblong, with a projection distally, juxta V-shaped, aedeagus stout with elaborate distal structure.

Female. Similar to male, but slightly larger, black margins of both wings are well developed.

Distribution. Yunnan, China.

Diagnosis. Superficially, the species is similar to P. daitozana as shown in Shirôzu’s book (1960) from Taiwan in having whitish ground color on upperside and smaller black spots on underside, but the black spot in space CuA1 of the postdiscal series is distinctly shifted outwards, also the valva of the male genitalia with its dorsal part is not so well inflated distally and, compared with drawings in Higgins (1975), has similar genitalia to the Palaearctic P. (Maculinea) nausithous (Bergsträsser, 1779) . The species is also easily recognized from P. atroguttata (Figs 1, 2, 10) and P. albida (Figs 7, 8, 11) by the wing maculation and genitalia features.

There are several taxa names published previously in mainland China and neighboring countries now treated as subspecies of P. atroguttata or separate species: juenana

Figures I–8. Phengaris spp. I– 2 P. atroguttata 3– 6 P. xiushani 7– 8 P. albida (1 3 5 7 upperside 2 4 6 8 underside); black bar = 1 cm

(Forster, 1940) from Dali, Yunnan; lampra (Röber, 1926) from Assam, India; intermedia Oberthür, 1916 from Tianquan, Sichuan. Examination of the types of the above mentioned taxa, except for juenana (Forster, 1940), showed that lampra (Röber, 1926) belongs to P. atroguttata in having a black spot at basal cell C, whereas intermedia Oberthür, 1916 is identical to P. albida . Though the type of juenana (Forster, 1940) was not inspected in our study, we can postulate from Forster’s original description that

Figures 9–II. Male genitalia of Phengaris spp. 9 P. xiushani sp. n. I0 P. atroguttata II P. albida

the taxon is related to lampra (Röber, 1926) and belongs to P. atroguttata , which was verified by Huang (2003).

The name dohertyi Hemming appeared in D’Abrera (1993) for a taxon from Naga Hills and northern Myanmar, but could not be found in any further literature. It is possible that the name dohertyi was never published (John E. Chainey, personal communication).

Biological notes. The species occurs together with P. atroguttata in one locality, which we assume is their usual habitat within undisturbed forested mountains (Fig. 12); many adults were flying together. Only one locality was encountered during a 6 days field trip.

Etymology. The specific name refers: (a) to the beautiful mountain on the slopes of which it was found (Xiu-Shan in Chinese means “beautiful mountain”), and (b) more importantly we dedicate this species to Dr. Xiushan LI who brought the two authors of this description together and who has committed much of his life to research on ecology and conservation of butterflies (e.g. Li et al., 2006, 2010).