Karyotype reinvestigation does not confirm the presence of two cryptic species and interspecific hybridization in the Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damocles complex in the Crimea (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)

Vladimir A Lukhtanov; Konstantin A Efetov; Alexander V Dantchenko

doi:10.3897/CompCytogen.v13i3.46777

Karyotype reinvestigation does not confirm the presence of two cryptic species and interspecific hybridization in the Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damocles complex in the Crimea (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)

Comp Cytogenet. 2019 Oct 17;13(3):311-319. doi: 10.3897/CompCytogen.v13i3.46777. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Vladimir A Lukhtanov^{1

2}, Konstantin A Efetov³, Alexander V Dantchenko^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Karyosystematics, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg Russia.
² Department of Entomology, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab 7/9, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia St. Petersburg State University St. Petersburg Russia.
³ Department of Biological Chemistry and Laboratory of Biotechnology, V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Lenin blvd. 5/7, Simferopol 295051, Russia V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University Simferopol Russia.
⁴ Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, GSP-1, Leninskiye Gory 1/11, Moscow119991, Russia Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences Saint Petersburg Russia.

Abstract

The karyotype of the blue butterflies from the Angarskiy Pass (Crimea), previously attributed to Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) poseidon (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851), was re-examined. In all 19 studied individuals, we found the haploid chromosome number n = 26, including 7 pairs of relatively large and 19 pairs of relatively small chromosomes. According to the chromosome number and karyotype structure, the studied population does not differ from P. (A.) damocles krymaeus (Sheljuzhko, 1928) from the eastern part of the Crimean Mountains. This result does not confirm the previously formulated hypotheses, according to which (1) two morphologically similar but karyologically different species, P. (A.) poseidon and P. (A.) damocles krymaeus, occur sympatrically in the Crimea and (2) there is hybridization between these taxa on the Angarskiy Pass. Thus, only three species of the subgenus Agrodiaetus Hübner, 1822 have been reliably established for the Crimea: P. (A.) damone pljushtchi Lukhtanov & Budashkin, 1993, P. (A.) damocles krymaeus (Sheljuzhko, 1928) and P. (A.) ripartii budashkini Kolev & de Prins, 1995.

Keywords: Biodiversity; chromosome; hybrids; karyosystematics; meiosis; taxonomy.

Vladimir A. Lukhtanov, Konstantin A. Efetov, Alexander V. Dantchenko.