Chrysoritis wykehami (Dickson 1980), 2023

Heath, Alan, 2023, Chrysoritis Butler (Papilionoidea: Lycaenidae: Aphnaeinae) - Part III: An integrative taxonomic revision, Metamorphosis 34 (1), pp. 11-28 : 20

Chrysoritis wykehami (Dickson 1980) stat. rev.,

Poecilmitis wykehami Dickson 1980: 40 .

Holotype: NHM, London. Type locality: Hantamsberg, Calvinia .

Wing facies closely resembles C. turneri . Lacks iridescence and structural colouring. MPT: montane slopes. Host ant: Crem. liengmei .

Taxonomy: Formerly considered to be C. turneri wykehami , this taxon is returned to species status as Chrysoritis wykehami stat. rev. Both C. wykehami and C. turneri lack iridescence but they do not group together in the COI tree. Chrysoritis wykehami is polyphyletic in the COI tree on account of two samples, Z040 and Z041, taken near Sutherland, more than 130 km SE of the type locality (Calvinia) for wykehami . In the CAD data/tree, the two samples of C. wykehami , representing both lineages in the COI tree, are identical where their CAD sequences overlap (570/745 bp). However, two other samples also share that sequence in regions of DNA overlap. The Sutherland specimens are here treated as part of C. wykehami s.l. The COI-polyphyly of C. wykehami may be the result of historical introgression (explained in Note S2) but our data are insufficient to identify the original vs. the “captured” mtDNA lineage; As the two COI lineages are separated both phylogenetically and geographically (unlike other polyphyletic taxa such as C. aridimontis , C. trimeni and C. perseus where both COI lineages co-mingle) and support from nuclear data is not definitive, further investigation is needed.

Conservation status: LC – Rare.