Molecular systematics and evolution of the “Apollo” butterflies of the genus Parnassius (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data

Phylogeography of Koramius charltonius (Gray, 1853) (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae): a case of too many poorly circumscribed subspecies

“…Almost every known population has been described as a standalone subspecies, making one wonder whether this is a case of taxonomic inflation, similar to what is seen in other species of the genus Parnassius (Rose 1995). The species belongs, according to Bryk (1935), Korshunov (1988Korshunov ( , 1990, Korb (2012) and many other authors, to the genus Koramius, subgenus Kailasius together with K. autocrator (Avinov, 1910), K. inopinatus (Kotzsch, 1940), K. davydovi (Churkin, 2006), and K. loxias (Püngeler, 1901) (Omoto et al 2004;Michel et al 2008;Condamine et al 2012;Korb 2012). All of them are distributed in the area of Central Asian mountains.…”

“…The species is distributed also in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet and India; however, it is not easy to get fresh material from these countries. We did use several samples from these locations to see how they are connected to our delimited area and we included samples of K. charltonius from GenBank (mainly from publications of Omoto et al 2004;Katoh et al 2005;Michel et al 2008;Churkin and Michel 2014; Tables 2, 3) and also other taxa as outgroups and for calibration points (Hypermnestra helios (Nickerl, 1846), Koramius stoliczkanus (Felder & Felder, 1865), K. acdestis (Grum-Grshimailo, 1891), K. augustus (Fruhstorfer, 1903), K. imperator (Oberthür, 1883), K. inopinatus (Kotzsch, 1940), K. autocrator (Avinov, 1913), K. loxias (Püngeler, 1901)) (Table 4). To overcome the problem with potentially incorrect collecting information for the taxonomic part of our work, in cases of uncertainty we restricted our data to the type material and we omitted material from GenBank.…”

“…Yagi et al (2001) showed that Driopa stubbendorfii (Ménétriès, 1849) and D. glacialis (Butler, 1866) descend from the same ancestor. Omoto et al (2004) showed that Hypermnestra Ménétriès, 1848 is more closely related to Parnassius than to Archon Hübner, 1822, and they divided Parnassius into eight groups. Katoh et al (2005) made the same conclusions.…”

“…Diagnostic characters: primary host-plants are Fumariaceae; saccus well developed; uncus and tegumen connection solid; gnathos present; valva without harpa, no caudal branches, no chaetae; sphragis massive, sclerotized, and occupying more than 3 abdominal tergits. In cladograms as a separate clade or sister to Koramius (see for example Omoto et al 2004;Korb 2012).…”

“…Diagnostic characters: primary host-plants are Fumariaceae; subscaphium present; uncus consisting of two separate lobes; saccus massive and with two parts; sphragis skinny. In cladograms most often clustering with Kreizbergius, but sometimes as separate clade (Omoto et al 2004;Korb 2012). …”