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

Bálint, Zs.: Two new Polyommatus species from the Himalayan region (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Polyommatini)

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Tomus 87. Budapest, 1995 p. 93-102 Two new Polyommatus species from the Himalayan region (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Polyommatini)* by ZS. BÁLINT, Budapest BÁLINT, Zs. (1995): Two new Polyommatus species from the Himalayan region (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Polyommatini). - Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 87: 93-102. Abstract - Two new polyommatine lycaenids from the Himalayan region which are closely related to Polyommatus stoliczkanus (FELDER et FELDER, 1865) are described and discussed: Polyommatus fraterluci sp. n. from North India and Polyommatus pierinoi sp. n. from Nepal. A survey of the stoliczkanus complex is also given. With 18 figures. In studying lycaenid butterflies of the Central Palaearctic territories, I tried to distinguish the faunistics and also the main phyletic lines of Polyommatus sensu ELIOT (1973). Two regions received particular attention because of their very diverse lycaenid fauna. Accordingly, two of my previous works in this series presented new faunistic, biogeographic and taxonomic data to the knowledge of poorly known Old World territories, namely the Turkmenian and Himalayan regions (BÁLINT 1992a, b). The present paper, as the third part of the series, gives a description of two further, hitherto unknown species from the Himalayan region as a subsequent result of my studies on historical materials of BMNH collections . The first aim of my visits to the above-mentioned institute was to compile the type catalogue of the Palaearctic lycaenid taxa located there, which is still in progress. Parallel to that study, I obtained many interesting findings, among others a lot of new polyommatine lycaenid taxa from all over the World, such as Polyommatus annamaria BÁLINT, 1993, P. for resti BÁLINT, 1993, P. csornai BÁLINT, 1993, Pseudolucia sirin BÁLINT, 1993, Itylos luzhin BÁLINT, 1993, /. pnin BÁLINT, 1993, Madeleinea lolita BÁLINT, 1993, Polytheclus cincinnatus BÁLINT et JOHNSON, 1993. Both of the new species described in the present paper belong to one of the most problematic polyommatine lycaenid butterfly groups of the mentioned area. This is the stoliczkanus species group which shows remarkable diversity in the above mentioned regions of the Palaearctic realm. A distinct genus was erected for P. icarus (ROTTEMBURG, 1775) and P. stoliczkanus (as type species) under the name Bryna EVANS, 1912, but FORSTER (1938: 115) synonymized it with Polyommatus LATREILLE, 1804. Accordingly, P. stoliczkanus and its relatives belong to the same genus as the most common European blue butterfly P. icarus or P. eroides (FRIVALDSZKY, 1835), both having Transpalaearctic distribution. One of the recently described polyommatine lycaenid, namely Polyommatus ciloicus DE FREINA and WITT, 1983 from Eastern Anatolia, was compared with P. stoliczkanus, P. venus (STAUDINGER, 1886), P. wiskotti (COURVOISIER, 1910) and P. icarus (ROTTEMBURG, 1775). The results showed that these taxa are really closely related (DE FREINA & WITT 1983). The works of CARBONELL (1991a) confirmed this. Studies on Central Palaearctic Lycaenids, Pail III. ** The new taxa are dedicated lo the brothers, namely brother Luc and brother Pierino of the Tai/i Community, who give continuous inspiration to my studies on lycaenid butterflies.