Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 87. (Budapest 1995)

Bálint, Zs. ; Johnson, K.: Taxonomic synopsis of the high Andean and Austral lycaenid genus Paralycaeides Nabokov, 1945 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae, Polyommatini)

Diagnosis of the genus- Small or medium sized polyommatines. Body: Eyes sparsely hairy, palpi hairy, legs without tibial spine. Wings: FW costa relatively long and straight, outer margin long. Androconial scales absent, battledore scales commonplace polyommatine (see ELIOT 1973, fig. 150.), venation commonplace polyommatine with FW veins 11 and 12 free. HW with very short tail at vein 1A+2A, observable only on worn specimens. Pattern: Sexual dimorphism almost unrecognizable. DW rufous brown (P. shade) or dark brown (vapahazelea-inconspicua). VFW with commonpalce polyommatine markings comprising discoidal, postdiscal spots and submarginal markings. VHW with complex ityloid markings: basal and postmedian spots relatively rectangular but suffused with strong pseudovitta, intercellular spaces with luminous white (P. shade) or silvery scales (vapa-liazelea-inconspicua). Male Morphology with aedeagus thickish subzonally, very slightly incurved in lateral view with cca. 2/3 valval length, subzonal part three or four times longer than suprazonal, alulae conspicuous, vesical opening short, vesica unarmed. Uncus pointed or bulbous but strong with slightly rounded outer margin, slightly hooked apically; gnathos small with shorter forearm than humerulus; forearm and humerulus forming a low sloping shoulder. Tegumen conspicuosuly developed with small Suspensorium, furca large with aedeagus length, sagum absent. Valva commonplace polyommatine type (cf. HIGGINS 1975: Figs 170-215), 3/2 times longer than aedeagus, rostellum dentatcd, longer than mentum. Female morphology with anterior lamella elongate and digital-shaped with encircled, strongly sclerotized henia, ductus bursae simple, only slightly corrugated, well developed and eversible, much longer than henia, corpus bursae commonplace polyommatine and shorter than the everted ductus bursae. FW length: 8-14 mm (n=20). Unique character state - The male genital aedeagus with slight incurvation in lateral view characterizes Paralycaeides. The suprazonal element is remarkable short (being three or more times shorter than the subzonal one), the suprazonal sheath tapering lo a point ventrally with an unarmed vesica. The subzonal sheath has very large proximal tabs in lateral view. Distribution- Spatial: Exclusively occuning in the oreal biome of the Neotropics. Known from high montane parts of central Peru (Departments Huancayo, Cuzco and Puno), the altiplano region (S Pern, W. Bolivia) and adjacent territories of NW Argentina (Provinces Jujuy, Salta, Cajamarca and Tucumán) and NE Chile (Tarapaca); usually at high elevations but in Tucumán P. vapa was collected at 600 m. Temporal: Dates of material examined range from late November to late May. Ecology and behaviour- Colonics are strongly isolated but individual densities appear very high, at least in the case of P. vapa (see Material Examined, the available data on the remaining three taxa being very scanty). SHAPIRO (pers. comm. to the senior author) observed ovipositing P. vapa females on Astragalus sp. in the Tucumán region, Argentina. According lo historical museum dala, several other oreal high Andean butterflies belong to the same local faunas typified by Paralycaeides (detailed under specific entries below). Other details (e.g. concerning larval or adult hosts) are unknown. P h y 1 o g e n e t i c affinities and placement- The genus belongs to the Polyommatus section sensu BÁLINT & JOHNSON (1995c). The venation (cf. HlGGINS 1975, Fig. 169), the structure of the scales (cf. ELIOT 1973, Figs 144-147) and the morphology of the male genital organ (Fig. 30) confirm this systematic placement. The female genitalia (Figs 31-32) also suggest a monophyletic relationship to the Polyommatus section: the ductus bursae long, evertable with sclerotized henia (cf. NABOKOV 1945: 16, footnote). Some Neotropical genera historically included to the section are not monophyletic with this assemblage (cf. Nabokovia Section and Itylos Section, BÁLINT & JOHNSON 1995c). As already pointed out by BÁLINT & JOHNSON (1995c) only two polyommatine lycaenid genera, namely Madeleinea BÁLINT, 1993 and Paralycaeides, both distributed in the high Andean and Austral regions of South America, can be convincingly related to Holarctic stock of Polyommatus (sensu ELIOT 1973). This is a conspicuous statement, especially if we remember that the historical literature considered the high Andean fauna as a biota exclusively derived from the Holarctic region (cf. SHAPIRO 1994: 45-48 [where several quotations of historical papers concerning this statement are cited]). BÁLINT & JOHNSON (1995b) also mentioned that Madeleinea and Paralycaeides are most probably not sister taxa. Madeleinea possess structural characters indicating affinities to the Aricia-Icaricia lineage of Plebejus KLUK, 1802 (see Fig 30 and Figs 44-52, notable the very long suprazonal element of the male genital penis), while Paralycaeides is more closely related to the Albulina HÜBNER, [1819] group of Polyommatus LATREILLE, 1804 (see Fig. 30 and Figs 54-55, notable the short suprazonal element of the male genital penis).