Genetic confirmation of Aricia artaxerxes (Fabricius, 1793) (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) in the Czech Republic, its conservation significance and biogeographic context

By

Bartoňová, Alena Sucháčková
Benes, Jiri
Fric, Zdenek Faltýnek
Konvicka, Martin, 1969-

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019-11-8

Original Publication

Nota lepidopterologica

Volume

42

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

163--176

Subjects

Aricia agestis , Barcoding , butterfly , calcareous grasslands , Central Europe , habitat fragmentation , Insect , sibling species

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Bonn,

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.42.38853

 

Abstract

We report here the first molecular evidence for the occurrence ofAricia artaxerxes(Fabricius, 1793) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in the Czech Republic. In Central Europe, this species may co-occur with its more common sibling,Aricia agestis(Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775). We sequenced the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 of darkly-coloured, putativeA. artaxerxesspecimens in the Czech Republic. We confirmedA. artaxerxesonly from a limestone area in South Bohemia (Vyšenské kopce National Nature Reserve), which is probably the only locality of the species in the Czech Republic. This area is located at ca. 550 m A.S.L., showing that the elevation overlap withA. agestiscould be high in Central Europe. Other surveyed individuals were confirmed asA. agestis, with a minimum p-distance of 1.98% between the two species. The South Bohemian area of occurrence is probably highly isolated (approx. 190 km) from localities of the species in neighbouring countries, highlighting the conservation importance of theA. artaxerxespopulation and of the insular calcareous areas in the Šumava Mountains foothills. We used database sequences ofA. artaxerxesto place the Czech population into a wider phylogeographic context. The Czech population is monomorphic, consisting of a single haplotype, which is present from Scandinavia through Germany to Central Asia.