DNA barcode based phylogeographic analysis of the Aricia anteros (Freyer, 1838) species complex (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) with description of a new subspecies from SE Europe

Abstract

The complex of taxa closely related to Aricia anteros includes the species A. anteros sensu stricto, A. crassipuncta, A. bassoni, and A. vandarbani. All of them are sometimes considered as subspecies of a single polytypic species. Representatives of this complex are found in the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, the Levant, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Northern and Western Iran. In addition, an isolated population of A. anteros occurs in the Northern Black Sea region. In this work, based on DNA barcodes of all species and main populations of the complex, we show the existence of seven differentiated mitochondrial lineages: anteros (predominant in the Balkans), crassipuncta (predominant in Asia Minor), bassoni (the Levant), vandarbani (Talysh Mts), varicolor (Zagros Mts), dombaiensis (the Caucasus) and kalmius (Kalmius River basin in the Northern Black Sea region). The taxa of the A. anteros species complex are allopatric, except for A. anteros s.s. and A. crassipuncta, which have a mosaic distribution in eastern Anatolia and Transcaucasia. On the Balkan Peninsula, within the species A. anteros s.s, both the anteros and the crassipuncta mitochondrial haplogroups are found. This pattern is likely a consequence of interspecific hybridization and mitochondrial introgression. Based on mitochondrial DNA, the taxon A. crassipuncta mehmetcik from SE Anatolia is indistinguishable from A. crassipuncta crassipuncta, and the taxon varicolor from Central Iran is closer to the geographically distant European A. anteros than to the Anatolian A. crassipuncta. The geographically isolated and genetically differentiated population from the Kalmius River basin in the Northern Black Sea region is described here as a new subspecies.