Cupid’s sisterhood: comprehensive sampling sheds light on the systematics and evolution of the cosmopolitan butterfly genus <i>Cupido</i> Schrank, 1801 and its relatives (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
Abstract Using a dataset of COI barcodes and 13 other genes for Cupido and relatives, we confirm the monophyly of the subtribe Everina and the revised genus Cupido (s.l.), recognizing five genera: Cupido, Everes, Sinocupido, Lacturnea Nazari & Fric gen. nov. and Huegelia Nazari & Fric gen. nov., the latter two described to accommodate Polyommatus lacturnus Godart, [1824], Lycaena huegelii Gistel, 1857, and Huegelia irungbami Fric & Nazari sp. nov. here described from Manipur, India. Our proposed evolutionary hypothesis suggests that subtribe Everina and the genus Cupido (sensu lato) emerged respectively around 19.9 and 10.8 Mya in the Miocene. We propose the following taxonomic changes: Huegelia huegelii (Gistel, 1857) = Lycaena dipora Moore, 1865 syn. nov. = Everes indicana Lorković, 1943 syn. nov.; Everes prosecusa duplex (Alpheraky, 1887) = Lycaena prosecusa var. korlana Staudinger, 1901 syn. nov.; Everes alaina (Staudinger, 1887) comb. nov.; Everes alaina nagarensis Charmeux & Desse, 2006 stat. nov.; Everes prosecusa (Erschoff, 1874) comb. nov.; Pseudozizeeria bohemanni (Wallengren, 1860) comb. nov. and Pseudozizeeria draesekei (Schawerda, 1926) comb. nov.; Larinopoda elorea (Fabricius, 1793) comb. nov.; and Epimastidia diogenes (Blanchard, 1853) comb. nov. We designate a lectotype for Lycaena aricia Grum-Grshimailo, 1902 syn. nov. and synonymize it with Zizina emelina thibetensis Poujade, 1885.
Authors
- ANATOLY V. KRUPITSKY (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6095-3570)
- Alireza Naderi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5878-6333)
- Zdeněk Faltýnek Fric (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3611-8022)
- Alena Sucháčková Bartoňová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6298-2466)
- Vazrick Nazari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9064-8959)
- Wolfgang ten Hagen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8249-5562)
- Jan Walter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2973-0491)
Institutions
- Esslingen University of Applied Sciences (DE)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Lomonosov Moscow State University (RU)
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ)
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (CZ)
- Institute of Entomology (CZ)
- National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (IR)
- Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (RU)
- Moscow State University (TJ)
- University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (CZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
- Published
- 2025-10-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf170
- Primary Topic
- Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- University of Oxford
- Università degli Studi di Padova
- Russian Science Foundation