Taxonomy of the West Palaearctic butterfly genus Palaeophilotes Forster, 1938 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) based on combined analysis of COI barcodes and multilocus nuclear markers

Based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of all relevant taxa, we propose to consider the species previously classified as members of Pseudophilotes, Palaeophilotes, Rubrapterus, and Inderskia as belonging to a single genus, the valid name of which is Palaeophilotes. This genus can be divided into two subgenera: Rubrapterus with species P. bavius and P. fatma, and Palaeophilotes sensu stricto. The latter subgenus includes four lineages and nine species: (1) the P. abencerragus lineage (single species P. abencerragus), (2) P. barbagiae lineage (single species P. barbagiae), (3) P. panope lineage (P. panope and P. triphysina), and (4) P. baton lineage (P. panoptes, P. baton, P. vicrama, P. jacuticus and P. sinaicus). The name Borisinia Korb, 2013, syn. nov. is shown to be an objective synonym of Palaeophilotes Forster, 1938. The previously proposed synonymy of P. svetlana and P. marina with P. panope is supported by the identity of their DNA-barcodes. Palaeophilotes panope is reported for the Kazakhstan part of the Altai mountains for the first time. Palaeophilotes jacuticus is confirmed for the Lake Baikal region in Siberia.