Status and conservation of genetic diversity in the disjunct populations of Pseudochazara tisiphone Brown, [1981], in Albania.

Preserving broad genetic diversity is more crucial than ever in the face of the current biodiversity crisis, enabling species to adapt to changing conditions and habitats. Efforts to protect genetic diversity through frameworks like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the EU Nature Restoration Law are gaining increasing attention. While these initiatives hold great promise, they are still in the early stages of practical implementation, and many challenges and questions remain to be addressed. Given that butterflies are commonly used as umbrella species for conservation, a comprehensive understanding of their species delimitation and evolutionary history is cucial for the successful preservation of their genetic diversity.The "grey zones" in the systematics of Lepidoptera, arising from differing species concepts, are assessed for their potential impact on new initiatives aimed at protecting important genetic diversity.How will limited urgency among policymakers for nature conservation evolve, especially in the context of scarce resources and the potential opportunity for exploiting a substantial hydrogen reservoir?To better understand the potential challenges, an analysis is conducted on Pseudochazara tisiphone Brown, [1981], a butterfly species with a limited and fragmented distribution in the Balkan Peninsula, focusing on Albania, a non-EU country. Considering the morphological variability of P. tisiphone, limited mtDNA data that does not allow species-level determination, the disjunct distribution, industrial threats in the Bulqizë area, and the need to support a positive conservation decision by policymakers, several challenges must be addressed. However, the disjunct population in Dibër County justifies the description of a new subspecies, Pseudochazara tisiphone dibra ssp. nov. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Comprehensive data from a larger genomic study of Balkan Pseudochazara populations are still needed to definitively resolve its taxonomic status.