ESU L. heracleana (Blachier, 1908)
       
Synonyms
[JS] Chrysophanus alciphron var. heracleana Blachier, 1908. Ann. Soc. entomol. Fr. 77(2): 217.  
    TL: Atlas Mountains (Morocco).
Notes  
(1) List of the subspecies not found in the Western Palearctic: -.  
(2) Pending further integrative taxonomic studies, the Moroccan populations referred to as Lycaena alciphron heracleana are provisionally treated as an Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU), based on their marked geographic isolation from the remaining populations of L. alciphron (more than 500 km) and on the phylogenetic divergence reported in Dapporto et al (2022: 139, fig. 255-256) and Wiemers (2003: 48, fig. 34).  
Bibliography  
Blachier C. 1908.
Lépidoptères du Maroc, remarques sur diverses espèces et description de variétés nouvelles.
Annales de la Société entomologique de France 77(2): 209-222, pl. 4. (url)
  
  New taxon: Chrysophanus alciphron heracleana.  
Reference publications  
Dapporto L., Menchetti M., Vodă R., Corbella C., Cuvelier S., Djemadi I., Gascoigne-Pees M., Hinojosa J., Lam N., Serracanta M., Talavera G., Dincă V. & Vila. R. 2022.
The Atlas of mitochondrial genetic diversity for Western Palearctic butterflies.
Global Ecology and Biogeography. 00, 1–7. doi.org/10.1111/geb.13579		  
       

Wiemers M. 2003.
Chromosome differentiation and the radiation of the butterfly subgenus Agrodiaetus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Polyommatus) – a molecular phylogenetic approach. Dissertation Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. 204 pp. (url)

  
 
Archives of Western Palearctic Lepidoptera
Editors-in-Chief: Michel Taymans & Sylvain Cuvelier