Taxonomic position of several enigmatic Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) species (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) from Central and Eastern Iran: insights from molecular and chromosomal data

The species-rich subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) has become one of the best studied groups of Palearctic blue butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). However, the identity and phylogenetic position of some rare taxa from Iran have remained unclear. An enigmatic, recently described Central Iranian species P. (A.) shirkuhensis ten Hagen et Eckweiler, 2001 has been considered as a taxon closely related either to P. (A.) eckweileri ten Hagen, 1998 or to P. (A.) baltazardi (de Lesse, 1962). P. (A.) baltazardi, in its turn, was treated as a taxon close to Iranian-Pakistani P. (A.) bogra Evans, 1932. Here we used a combination of molecular and chromosomal markers to show that none of these hypotheses was true. Instead, P. (A.) shirkuhensis was recovered as a member of a species group close to P. (A.) cyaneus (Staudinger, 1899). From genetically closest species, P. (A.) kermansis (de Lesse, 1962), P. (A.) cyaneus and P. (A.) sennanensis (de Lesse, 1959), it differs by the wing coloration. From morphologically similar P. (A.) mofidii (de Lesse, 1963) and P. (A.) sorkhensis Eckweiler, 2003, it differs by its chromosome number, n=21. P. (A.) bogra and P. (A.) baltazardi were found to be members of two different species groups and, thus, are not closely related.