Plebejus is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. Its species are found in the Palearctic and Nearctic realms.
Taxonomy As a result of studies of molecular phylogenetics, numerous species that were included in Plebejus by some authors at the beginning of the 21st century have now been moved to separate genera again. These species may be found in Afarsia, Alpherakya, Agriades, Aricia, Eumedonia, Icaricia, Kretania, Maurus, Pamiria, Patricius, Plebejidea, Plebulina, and Rueckbeilia.
Species Species include:
The ardis species-group: Plebejus eversmanni (Lang, 1884) Kopet-Dagh, Ghissar, Darvaz, Pamirs-Alai, Tian-Shan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan Plebejus baroghila (Tytler, 1926) Himalayas Plebejus firuskuhi (Forster, 1940) Afghanistan Plebejus kwaja (Evans, 1932) Baluchistan
The argus species-group: Plebejus aegidion (Gerhard, 1851) Central Asia Plebejus argus (Linnaeus, 1758) – silver-studded blue
The idas species-group (a.k.a. subgenus Lycaeides): Plebejus agnata (Rühl, 1895) Plebejus argyrognomon (Bergsträsser, ) – Reverdin's blue Plebejus pseudaegon (Butler, ) Ussuri, North China, North Korea, Japan Plebejus sinica (Forster, 1936) Sichuan Plebejus maracandica (Erschoff, 1874) Russia, Transbaikalia, Yakutia, Magadan. Mongolia, Kamchatka Plebejus caspica (Forster, 1936) South Urals Plebejus lepidus Zhdanko, 2000 Kazakhstan Plebejus uiguricus Zhdanko, 2000 ltai, Saur, Tarbagatai Mts., Dzhungarsky Alatau Plebejus mongolicus Rühl, Transbaikalia, Amur, Mongolia Plebejus baldur (Hemming, 1934) Kurdistan, Levant Plebejus bellieri (Oberthür, 1910) Corsica Plebejus argiva (Staudinger, 1886) Kazakhstan, Alai Plebejus christophi (Staudinger, 1874) – small jewel blue Plebejus anikini Yakovlev, 2012 Mongolia Plebejus germani Yakovlev, 2012 Mongolia Plebejus roxane (Grum-Grshimailo, 1887) Tajikistan, Afghanistan Plebejus idas (Linnaeus, 1761) – Idas blue or northern blue Plebejus ganssuensis (Grum-Grshimailo, 1891) Kuku-Noor, China Plebejus nushibi Zhdanko, 2000 Kazakhstan Plebejus calliopis (Boisduval, 1832) Alps, boreal Europe and Transcaucasia to Russian Far East and Kamchatka Plebejus anna (Edwards, 1861) – Anna's blue Plebejus melissa (Edwards, 1873) – Melissa blue or orange-bordered blue Plebejus fridayi (Chermock, 1945) Oregon Plebejus nevadensis (Oberthür, 1910) Iberia Plebejus tomyris (Grum-Grshimailo, 1890) Amur Plebejus samudra (Moore, ) Northwest India, Hindu Kush Plebejus rogneda (Grum-Grshimailo, 1890) Kashgar, Darvaz, Pamirs, Transalai Plebejus subsolanus (Eversmann, 1851) Transbaikalia, Amur, Ussuri, Mongolia, Korea, Japan. Plebejus iburiensis (Butler, ) Japan Plebejus cleobis (Bremer, 1861) Siberia, Altai, Transbaikalia, Russian Far East, Amur, Ussuri, Japan
Ungrouped: Plebejus sharga Churkin, 2004 Mongolia Plebejus shuroabadica (Shchetkin, 1963) Tajikistan Plebejus dzhizaki Zhdanko, 2000 Uzbekistan Plebejus bergi Kusnezov, 1908 Kazakhstan Plebejus noah (Herz, 1900) Turan Plebejus qinghaiensis (Murayama, 1992) Plebejus hishikawai (Yoshino, 2003) Tibet Plebejus callaghani Carbonell & Naderi, 2007 Iran Plebejus choltagi (Zhdanko & Churkin, 2001) Plebejus fyodor Hsu, Bálint & Johnson, 2000 Plebejus maidantagi Zhdanko & Churkin, 2001 Plebejus tillo Zhdanko & Churkin, 2001 Plebejus churkini Zhdanko, 2001 Tian-Shan Plebejus exterius Zhdanko, 2001 Tian-Shan Plebejus zhdankoi Churkin, 2002 Tian-Shan Plebejus mellarius Churkin & Zhdanko, 2008 Kyrgyzstan Plebejus arpa (Churkin & Pletnev, 2012) Kyrgyzstan Plebejus aleremiticus (Churkin & Pletnev, 2012) Tajikistan
References