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Issue: Vol. 5723 No. 1: 24 Nov. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-11-24
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5723.1.3
Page range: 71-92
Abstract views: 70
PDF downloaded: 6

The butterfly genus Laothus (Lycaenidae), with the description of a new species and a morphology-based phylogenetic outline

Grupo de Estudios em Sistemática y Conservación; Universidad del Atlántico; Barranquilla; Colombia.
7 Lotissement l’Horizon; Le Puy Sainte Réparade; France
Departamento de Conservación de la Biodiversidad; El Colegio de la Frontera Sur; Unidad Chetumal; Quintana Roo; Mexico and Museo de Zoología (Entomología); Departamento de Biología Evolutiva; Facultad de Ciencias; UNAM; 04510; Ciudad de México; México.
Nature Education Centre; Jagiellonian University; Gronostajowa 5; 30-387 Kraków; Poland
Lepidoptera Parsimony approach Biodiversity Hairstreaks Eumaeini Colombia South America Andes

Abstract

The taxonomy of the genus Laothus Johnson, Kruse & Kroenlein, 1997 is revised. A new species, Laothus isakubi Prieto, sp. nov., endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, is described. Adults and genitalia of the new species are illustrated and compared with its closest relatives, Laothus viridicans (Felder & Felder, 1865) and Laothus cockaynei (Goodson, 1945). An updated checklist and two dichotomous keys for the identification of males and females are provided. A phylogenetic analysis based on 22 morphological characters coded for parsimony resulted in a single most parsimonious tree of 30 steps with a CI of 83 and RI of 88, in which Laothus is recovered as monophyletic.

 

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How to Cite

Prieto, C., Boyer, P., Trujano-Ortega, M. & Lorenc-Brudecka, J. (2025) The butterfly genus Laothus (Lycaenidae), with the description of a new species and a morphology-based phylogenetic outline. Zootaxa, 5723 (1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5723.1.3