Molecular Phylogeny and Taxonomy of the Butterfly Subtribe Scolitantidina with Special Focus on the Genera Pseudophilotes, Glaucopsyche and Iolana (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The Palearctic butterfly genera Pseudophilotes, Glaucopsyche and Iolana have attracted the attention of many entomologists because their species are used as model objects for studying ecology and evolution. The genera have previously been the subjects of several taxonomic studies based on the analysis of their morphological and molecular characteristics, but none of these studies are based on complete species sampling. In our work, we used a set of mitochondrial and nuclear genes to reveal the phylogeny of these genera as well as the phylogeny of the subtribe Scolitantidina, to which these genera belong. In the genus Pseudophilotes, we identified 10 species including among them, the enigmatic Central Asian taxon P. panope, which has often been assigned to other genera. We clarified the taxonomic structure of the genus Glaucopsyche, which was found to consist of four subgenera. We confirm that the genus Iolana includes nine species distributed across the southwestern part of the Palearctic. The results obtained here will be important for the conservation of the Scolitantidina species, some of which are local and protected by national and international laws. ABSTRACT: The Palearctic blue butterfly genus Pseudophilotes Beuret, 1958 is not homogenous regarding the morphology of its genital structures. For this reason, some of its species have been considered to be representatives of other genera of the subtribe Scolitantidina (subfamily Polyommatinae). Here, we address these taxonomic problems by analyzing the phylogenetic relationships between the genera, subgenera, and species of this subtribe inferred via the analysis of five nuclear and two mitochondrial DNA sequences. We demonstrate that the enigmatic Asian species P. panope (Eversmann, 1851) belongs to the genus Pseudophilotes but not to Praephilotes Forster, 1938 or Palaeophilotes Forster, 1938 and does not represent the independent genus Inderskia Korshunov, 2000, as hypothesized previously. We synonymize P. svetlana Yakovlev, 2003 (syn. nov.) and P. marina Zhdanko, 2004 (syn. nov.) with P. panope. We demonstrate a deep genetic divergence between lineages that were previously considered as subspecies of the single species Iolana iolas (Ochsenheimer, 1816). As a result, we confirm the multispecies concept of the genus Iolana Bethune-Baker, 1914. We show that the Holarctic genus Glaucopsyche can be divided into four subgenera: Glaucopsyche Scudder, 1872 (=Shijimiaeoides Beuret, 1958), Apelles Hemming, 1931, Bajluana Korshunov and Ivonin, 1990, and Phaedrotes Scudder, 1876.