Lepidochrysops forsskali Larsen 1982
Creators: name: Verovnik, Rudi
name: Seizmair, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Lycaenidae
Lepidochrysops
Lepidochrysops forsskali

description: Lepidochrysops forsskali Larsen, 1982   
 Material examined: Saudi Arabia, Province Jizan, Mt. Faifa, Fifa Village, 17.2643°, 43.1132°, 1740 m, 13-XI-2023, 1♂, 1♀, slide no. 23 GP058, 23 GP059, leg., prep., coll. M. Seizmair. Saudi Arabia, Province Jizan, Mt. Faifa, Ayban Belghazi, 17.263406°, 43.076147°, 660 m, 08-XI-2023, 1♂, slide no. 23 GP057, leg., prep., coll. M. Seizmair. Saudi Arabia, Province Jizan, Mt. Faifa, Marwah, 17.281553°, 43.101033°, 950 m, 10-XI-2023, 3♀, slide no. 24 GP002, 24 GP005, 24 GP006, leg., prep., coll. M. Seizmair.   
 External diagnostic characters (Figures 1A – D, Larsen, 1982): Wingspan: 27.0 mm – 31.5 mm. FW and HW ground in the UPS of the male of a shining blue close to that of the European Polyommatus icarus Rottemburg, 1775. End-cellular spot in the FW UPS of the male weakly indicated by a tiny row of black scales, distinctly sagittate in the FW UPS of the female and in the FW and HW UNS of both sexes. FW and HW ground in the male and female underside greyish-white, discal row of spots (M 1) angled at space M 12, HW spots in E 22 and E 21 c black with metallic scales and crowned with red. FW and HW ground of the female UPS dusky blue, FW costa darkish-brown, HW spot in cell E 22 black, with distinct orange crowning, cell E 23 with traces of orange scaling, cell and spaces between vein 1 – 5 dusted with blue. The UNS maculation is not visible through the UPS in both wings. HW vein 2 tailed.   
 Male genitalia (Figures 2 A- C, 3A- C, Larsen, 1982): Uncus lobes of sub-quadrangular shape, obliquely rounded, dorso-distally with several small tufts of long chaetae. Subunci curved and tapered after the anterior fifth, broadened and strongly sclerotized in the basis, distal hook right-angled. Vinculum broadened, laterally slightly edged. Juxta lobes strongly sclerotized with bar-shaped sclerites at the posterior ends, chaetose. Basal valva with several tufts of long chaetae in the ventral area, anterior end elongate and of triangular shape, costal border straight. Sacculus constant in width, acuminate in its anterior end. Post-basal valva concave in the costal border, straight in the ventral border, sub-apical area concave, apex acuminate and right-angled. Sacculus triangular shaped, lateral borders straight. Lateral parts of the distal portion of the aedeagus strongly concave in the anterior half, convex in the posterior half, thus forming a distinctive s-shape. Dorsal part ventrally with a pair of short, acuminate processes. Lateral flanges of the proximal portion lobar, narrow, acuminate.   
 Female genitalia (Figure 4 A-C): Ovipositor lobes chaetose, ovate, asymmetrical, ventrolaterally convex, strongly narrowed at the ventral end. Posterior apophyses slender, basally and medially angled, constant in width, oblong. Anterior apophyses thorn-shaped, basally broadened. Colliculum strongly sclerotized, with several elongate band-shaped sclerites reaching into the ductus bursae.   
 Remarks: The characters in the male genitalia as figured and described in Larsen (1982) are reconfirmed, namely the right-angled structure of the apex in the valva, the ventro-lateral convexity in the basal valva and the oblique rounding in the uncus lobes. Further character states in the male genitalia are added, such as the dilatation in the post-basal valva and the sclerotization in the juxta.
description: Published as part of Verovnik, Rudi & Seizmair, Michael, 2024, Notes on the genital morphology and phylogenetics of two Arabian species of the genus Lepidochrysops Hedicke, 1923 (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), pp. 200-209 in Ecologica Montenegrina 72 on pages 202-203, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.72.19, http://zenodo.org/record/13247937