A new species of Neolycaena de Nicville, 1890 (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) from the Dzhungarian Gobi desert, Mongolia

Abstract

Neolycaena enkhnasani sp. n. is described from the Dzhungarian Gobi desert. The food plant is Halimodendron halodendron (Fabacea). The new species is distinguished from the related taxa known from East Kazakhstan by small size, dense gray suffusion on the hindwing underside, a delicate and partly reduced submarginal underside pattern as well as the characters of the genitalia: the shape of the valva in males and the shape of the antrum in females. Important new data about the distribution and distinctions of N. zaisana (Zhdanko, 2013) and N. balchaschensis Zhdanko, 1998 are published together with photos of the genitalia of all the three taxa.