The taxonomic status of Alcon Blues living in Central and Western Europe (conventionally: Maculinea alcon and Maculinea rebeli) is quite confused. Some authors distinguish them as separate species of the M. alcon species group, while others consider them as subspecies or simply ecological forms. Our aim was to study the pattern of genetic differentiation among several populations of these taxa with reference to their taxonomic position.Imagoes were collected from 27 localities in Central Europe between 1999 and 2003. Samples originated from four regions: northern Hungary, central Hungary, Romania: Transylvania and Slovenia. Enzyme polymorphism was analysed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In all samples 16 enzyme loci were studied. In the analysis of the data, F-statistics was computed and the total genetic variation was partitioned into within and between population components. Nei's genetic distances were calculated and UPGMA dendrogram was constructed on the basis of the distance matrix. Hierarchical F-statistics and amova was computed to study the pattern of genetic differentiation among the samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) was also carried out using the allele frequencies of the samples.The results of all analyses indicated a high level of differentiation among the samples. The differences among the samples collected in different years from the same population accounted for a considerable amount of the between sample variation. The distribution of the between sample variation did not exhibit a species pattern. The results of amova and PCA indicated that the geographic pattern was slightly more expressed in the between sample variation compared with the species pattern of it. These results seem to contradict with the conventional taxonomical subdivision.

The present study aimed to analyse the level of genetic variation in the eastern Central European (Slovenia, Hungary, and Romania/Transylvania) populations of the Large Blues (Maculinea) to analyse the pattern of differentiation both between and within the species. One objective was to compare the level of differentiation between the two disputed species (Maculinea alcon and Maculinea rebeli) with that among the other species. Imagos were collected from 23 localities in eastern Central Europe in 2002. Enzyme polymorphism was analysed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fourteen enzyme loci were studied in all samples. In the analysis of the data, F‐statistics and Nei’s genetic distances were calculated and a dendrogram (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean) was constructed on the basis of the distance matrix. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed to study the pattern of genetic differentiation among the samples. Principal component analysis analysis was also carried out using the allele frequency data of the samples. Our results indicated that the large blues are generally less polymorphic than other European lycaenid butterflies studied. At the same time, the level of genetic differentiation was high, even among local populations within the species. A low level of genetic variation within the populations coupled with strong differentiation among them implies the effect of genetic drift. Strong genetic differentiation of four Maculinea species (M. alcon, Maculinea teleius, Maculinea nausithous, and Maculinea arion) was confirmed. Significant differentiation was not found between M. alcon and M. rebeli. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 91, 11–21.

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Abstract. The oviposition sites of the xerophilous ecotype of M. alcon (= "Maculinea rebeli") were surveyed in the managed (transitional) zone of the Aggtelek National Park and Biosphere Reserve in Northern Hungary. The M. alcon population is distributed over a territory of about 3 ha. In 2001, habitat reconstruction with selective cutting of shrubs and mowing, was started in this area. The number of stems of Gentiana cruciata (the food plant for the young larvae) and M. alcon eggs layed on them were counted in a selected area within this 3 ha: before (in 1992, 1993 and 1998) and after habitat reconstruction (in 2003, 2004 and 2005). In 2004 and 2005, a detailed study was carried out in order to detect potentially significant factors influencing the egg laying behaviour of females. The average number of intact flowering stems per quadrate was 2.68 and was clearly decreasing before management started. In contrast, there were five times higher (15.06) and increasing numbers of stems per quadrate right after habitat reconstruction. The two periods also differed in the percentage of flowering stems, which was very low before habitat reconstruction. The average number of eggs per square was low (6.8) and fluctuated considerably before management started. In contrast, the egg count was high (160.3) and increased consistently after the site was managed. The short grass sward created in the area proved to be advantageous both for the growth of the host plant and for the Maculinea population. The egg laying preference of the females was positively affected by the number of stems per clump, the height of the stems, the number of whorls with flowers and the difference between the height of the stems of the host plant and the surrounding vegetation. Significantly more eggs were found on large clumps of stems than expected on the basis of their availability for egg-laying. Egg counts were strongly correlated with all the measured characteristics of the food plant, which significantly correlated with each other. The interaction term indicated that the number of whorls with flowers is slightly more influential for egg laying than the other characteristics. There were significantly more eggs on the adaxial surface of the leaves and flower buds than on other parts of the food plant.

We studied the effect of ethanol on several fitness components in six Drosophila melanogaster strains. Mating success, fecundity, egg-to-larva, egg-to-pupa and egg-to-adult survival and the number of emerging adults were estimated in a single series of experiments. The strains either had different combinations of genetic background and Adh genotypes with identical OdhF genotype or different Adh-Odh two-locus genotypes with similar genetic background. Ethanol had the greatest effect on mating success and fecundity, while its influence was lower on survival. When the experimental conditions were contrasted to the natural environment of the flies the most significant results were the ones related to fecundity and larval survival. Ethanol had the highest selective effect on fecundity. The genetic factors contributed substantially to the variation in the fertility and viability components. The Adh locus hardly influenced mating success while it had a sizable effect on fecundity and on all survival components. The influence of Adh on fecundity greatly depended on the other genetic factors. Genetic background had the largest influence on the different survival components. The influence of the Odh locus was mostly observed through the Adh-Odh interaction.