Lycaena sissona W. G. Wright, 1905

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2024, Taxonomic advances driven by the genomic analysis of butterflies, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11 (7), pp. 1-43 : 26

Lycaena sissona W. G. Wright, 1905 is a junior subjective synonym of Cupido comyntas (Godart, [1824])

Genomic sequencing of two syntypes of Polyommatus comyntas Godart, [1824] (type locality in North America; NVG-23027C03 and NVG-23027C04) in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France (MNHP) reveals that contrary to the current interpretation they are not monophyletic with specimens from the eastern USA ( Fig. 20 green), but instead are in the same clade with specimens from California ( Fig. 20 purple), together with the lectotype of Lycaena sissona W. G. Wright, 1905 currently treated as a valid subspecies, Cupido comyntas sissona , as proposed by Austin (2002). The same relationship is observed in both nuclear and mitochondrial genome trees ( Fig. 20a and b), not revealing introgression scenarios that are commonly encountered in closely related groups of populations and even species. Moreover, specimens of Cupido comyntas texana (F. Chermock, 1945) form a clade of their own ( Fig. 20 blue), thus confirming the validity of this subspecies distributed from southern Texas to Panama. However, specimens collected in the San Antonio area more recently than the type series of C. comyntas texana (1992 vs. 1920) ( Fig. 20 labeled in cyan) partition into the two clades and may be intergrades between the eastern and southern subspecies.

As a result of the genomic analysis, we suggest that the type locality of P. comyntas Godart is likely in California and not in the eastern USA, and propose that Lycaena sissona W. G. Wright, 1905 , syn. nov. is a junior subjective synonym of Cupido comyntas (Godart, [1824]) . Visual assessment of the syntypes’ wing pattern agrees with this conclusion: the ventral forewing nearly lacks marginal and submarginal spots towards the apex, and white framing of dark ventral spots is weakly defined. These characters were mentioned by Austin (2002) to distinguish C. comyntas sissona from other subspecies. To stabilize nomenclature, N.V.G. hereby designates one of the two syntypes in MNHP, a male, bearing the following six rectangular labels, 1 st red, 4 th green, and others white: [TYPE], [comyntas, god. | ♂], [ EVERES | COMYNTAS GOD. ], [MUSÉUM PARIS], [DNA sample ID: | NVG-23027C04 | c/o Nick V. Grishin ], and [MNHN, Paris | EL83734 {QR code}] as the lectotype of Polyommatus comyntas Godart, [1824] . The style and handwriting on the second label are characteristic of Godart’s type specimens, confirming this specimen as a syntype. The lectotype has a small nick at the apex of the right forewing and its head is rotated to the right.