Natural hybridization is rather widespread and common in animals and can have important evolutionary consequences. In terms of taxonomy, exploring hybridization and introgression is crucial in defining species boundaries and testing taxonomic hypotheses. In the present paper, we report on natural hybrid specimens between Ahlbergia frivaldszkyi (Lederer, 1853) and Callophrys rubi (Linnaeus, 1758). To test the hypothesis of their hybrid origin, we employed the molecular mitochondrial (COI gene) and nuclear (wingless, RPS5, and Ca-ATPase genes) markers commonly used in phylogenetic studies and explored the morphology of the specimens. Our analysis revealed that hybrids bear mitochondrial haplotypes of C. rubi, while nuclear fragments are heterozygous, sharing a combination of A. frivaldszkyi and C. rubi lineages. The hybrid specimens combine morphological characters of both genera. Our results for the first time empirically demonstrate the possibility of genetic introgression between these species and between the genera Callophrys and Ahlbergia on the whole.

The tribe Tomarini is represented by the sole genus Tomares, comprising about eight species distributed from the western Mediterranean to Central Asia. We carried out a multilocus phylogenetic and a biogeographical analysis to test the taxonomy of the genus by several molecular species delimitation methods and reveal patterns shaping the current distribution of Tomares. The phylogenetic analysis based on four molecular markers recovered the monophyly of the genus and recovered two deep-branching lineages: an African clade and an Asian clade. Species delimitation analyses suggested six or ten putative species depending on the method applied. The haplotype network analysis of the Tomares nogelii clade revealed no phylogeographical and taxonomic structure. We consider the taxon Tomares nesimachus (syn. nov.) a synonym of T. nogelii and reinstate Tomares callimachus dentata stat. rev. for populations from south-eastern Turkey. Tomares originated between the early Oligocene and the early Miocene, most probably in south-west Asia. The split of the most recent common ancestor of Tomares occurred between the middle-late Miocene and middle-late Pliocene, probably as a response to increasing aridification and habitat fragmentation. Differentiation of the Asian clade took place in south-west Asia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene and coincided temporally with the evolution of Tomares host plants of the genus Astragalus (Fabaceae).

Phylogenetic analysis is provided for the first time for 12 species of Palaearctic elfin butterflies, members of the previously recognized genera Ahlbergia Bryk, 1947, Cissatsuma Johnson, 1992, and Novosatsuma Johnson, 1992, based on the barcoding region of the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I gene (COI). Comparison of the COI barcodes revealed very low levels of genetic divergence between the species of the Palaearctic elfin butterflies and Callophrys Billberg, 1820 sensu stricto. COI-based phylogeny revealed that Palaearctic Callophrys and the Palaearctic elfin butterflies, except Cissatsuma, are polyphyletic. Four new sympatric species, namely, Callophrys (Ahlbergia) hmong sp. n., C. (A.) tay sp. n., Callophrys (Cissatsuma) devyatkini sp. n. and C. (A.) dao sp. n. are described from Ha Giang Province, North Vietnam, based on wing colouration, the morphologies of the male and female genitalia, and differences in COI sequences. Discovery of the new species expands the distribution range of the group towards the southeast, beyond the Palaearctic region.

The genus Colias Fabricius, 1807 includes numerous taxa and forms with uncertain status and taxonomic position. Among such taxa are Colias mongola Alphéraky, 1897 and Colias tamerlana Staudinger, 1897, interpreted in the literature either as conspecific forms, as subspecies of different but morphologically somewhat similar Colias species or as distinct species-level taxa. Based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers, we reconstructed a phylogeographic pattern of the taxa in question. We recover and include in our analysis DNA barcodes of the century-old type specimens, the lectotype of C. tamerlana deposited in the Natural History Museum (Museum für Naturkunde), Berlin, Germany (ZMHU) and the paralectotype of C. tamerlana and the lectotype of C. mongola deposited in the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia (ZISP). Our analysis grouped all specimens within four (HP_I–HP_IV) deeply divergent but geographically poorly structured clades which did not support nonconspecifity of C. mongola–C. tamerlana. We also show that all studied females of the widely distributed haplogroup HP_II were infected with a single Wolbachia strain belonging to the supergroup B, while the males of this haplogroup, as well as all other investigated specimens of both sexes, were not infected. Our data highlight the relevance of large-scale sampling dataset analysis and the need for testing for Wolbachia infection to avoid erroneous phylogenetic reconstructions and species misidentification.

A new species of the Callophrys mystaphia Miller, 1913—group from Iran (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Eumaeini)

А new species and a new subspecies of Satyrium Scudder, 1876 (subfamily Theclinae, tribe Eumaeini) from the subgenera Superflua Strand, 1910 and Armenia Dubatolov & Korshunov, 1984 respectively are described from Bamyan Province, Central Afghanistan—S. (S.) skrylniki sp. n. and S. (A.) hyrcanica bamiana ssp. n. The new species of Superflua belongs to the Iranian complex of species. It inhabits the territory of Afghanistan, being isolated from two other species of the subgenus known from the territory in question. The new subspecies of Armenia is also found in isolation both from the nominate subspecies and two Middle and Central Asian subspecies. Both findings clarify some aspects of zoogeography of the Central Afghanistan mountains.