Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 89. (Budapest 1997)

Bálint, Zs. ; Johnson, K.: New species of Cyanophrys sensu lato from the Andean region of Argentina (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Volume 89. Budapest, 1997 pp. 141-150. New species of Cyanophrys sensu lato from the Andean region of Argentina (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) Zs. BÁLINT

1 & K. JOHNSON

2 1 Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum H-1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary Environmental Department, The Ethical Culture Society 53 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, New York, 11215, (Research Associate, Florida State Collection of Arthropods Gainesville, Florida 32614) USA BÁLINT, ZS. & JOHNSON, K. (1997): New species of Cyanophrys sensu lato from the Andean region of Argentina (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae, Lycaenidae). - Annls hist nat. Mus. natn. hung. 89: 141150. Abstract - Four new species are described from tropical forest remnants in upland regions of northwestern Argentina: Cyanophrys mykros, C. nescus, C octonarius, and Plesiocyanophrys runa. The species have been previously mentioned in literature concerning endemic upland faunas of the region but never formally described. With 18 figures. INTRODUCTION Over the last years the present authors have published numerous studies of polyommatine lycaenids from the Andean region of South Amercia. In a biogeographical study concerning the origin of the Andean butterfly fauna, DESCIMON (1986) mentioned some species of the eumaeine lycaenid genus Cyanophrys CLENCH, 1961 (CLENCH 1961) which were unique to uplands of northern Argentina. Generally, this genus typifies tropical forests throughout lowland regions of the neotropics. However, the Andean uplift appears to have fostered the vicariant origin of several Cyanophrys species in northern Argentina where remnant tropical forests persist in scattered colonies near and south of the Tropic of Capricorn (JOHNSON 1995 and Figs 1-2). To date, these species have remained undescribed. JOHNSON (1980, doctoral dissertation unpublished for taxonomic purposes) first elaborated various northern Argentine Cyanophrys mentioned by DESCIMON (1986). Since then, additional material from the Instituto Miguel Lillo (Tucumán, Argentina), ROBERT C. EISELE (Jujuy, Argentina) and BRUCE MACPHERSON (Salta, Argentina) has allowed further verification of these entities. Since Cyanophrys species share a common adaptive trait of the wing dorsa (an iridescent blue "flash" pattern), congeners do not differ much in macular pattern. Fortunately for diagnostic purposes, the montane Cyanophrys of Ar-