Krupitsky A.V.1,2*, Kolesnichenko K.A.1 2025. Integrative analysis of the egg chorion ultrastructure combined with multilocus phylogeny sheds light on the taxonomy of the subgenus Thersamolycaena Verity, 1957 of the genus Lycaena Fabricius, 1807 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) // Russian Entomol. J. Vol.34. No.3: P.343–357 [in English].
1 Department of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory, 1-12, Moscow 119834 Russia.
2 Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospekt 33, Moscow 119071 Russia.
* Corresponding author
Anatoly Krupitsky: nephrurus@yandex.ru ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6095-3570
Kirill Kolesnichenko: kkolesnichenko@gmail.com; ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1102-0317
doi: 10.15298/rusentj.34.3.05
ABSTRACT. The subgenus Thersamolycaena Verity, 1957 of the genus Lycaena Fabricius, 1807 is revised using integrative analysis of the ultrastructure of the chorion of the eggs combined with multilocus phylogenetic analysis. It is shown that the L. (T.) splendens (Staudinger, 1881) species group comprises five species, L. (T.) splendens, L. (T.) violacea (Staudinger, 1892), L. (T.) dabrerai Bálint, 1996, L. (T.) odbayar (Churkin, 2004) and L. (T.) ratushinskayae Churkin et Kolesnichenko, 2019, although molecular phylogenetic analysis based on two genes confirms species status of only two species of the group, L. (T.) splendens and L. (T.) ratushinskayae. Other species differ from each other by the size and ultrastructure of the chorion of the eggs, namely by the number and conformation of the lateral ribs and the number of primary cells in the micropyle area. The most recent common ancestor of the whole subgenus Thersamolycaena splitted in the late Miocene in Eurasia, the ancestor of the L. (T.) splendens group diversified in the late Pliocene in Central Asia, and the L. (T.) violacea clade diversified in the Pleistocene in the mountains of Mongolia, probably due to the Pleistocene climate oscillations.
KEY WORDS. Lycaeninae, Lycaenini, Mongolia, Palaearctic, biogeography, integrative systematics, molecular phylogenetics, morphology, scanning electron microscopy.