Alexander Vladimirovich Dantchenko

• PhD
• Researcher at St Petersburg University

Simple Summary In the species-diverse butterfly genus Polyommatus, speciation is often driven by rapid changes in chromosome number and structure, resulting in cryptic species. These cryptic species are morphologically similar, but usually can be recognized relatively easily using chromosomal markers. In this work, we show that similar chromosome n...

Simple Summary The species-rich subgenus Agrodiaetus Hübner, 1822 is a distinct monophyletic lineage within the diverse blue butterfly genus Polyommatus Latreille, 1804. Although the subgenus has attracted the attention of numerous researchers, a large number of unresolved taxonomic problems persist in Agrodiaetus. In our study, we analyzed the tax...

The need for multi-gene analysis in evolutionary and taxonomic studies is generally accepted. However, sequencing of multiple genes is not always possible. For various reasons, short mito-chondrial DNA barcodes are the only source of molecular information for some species in many genera, although multilocus data are available for other species of t...

The Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damone (Eversmann, 1841) species complex comprises from 5 to 8 species distributed in southeastern Europe and southern Siberia. Here we used chromosomal and DNA-barcode markers in order to test the taxonomic hypotheses previously suggested for this complex. We revealed that all taxa within this group demonstrate chromo...

The Polyommatus butterflies have holocentric chromosomes, which are characterized by kinetic activity distributed along the entire chromosome length, and the highest range of haploid chromosome numbers (n) known within a single eukaryotic genus (from n = 10 to n = 226). Previous analyses have shown that these numbers most likely evolved gradually f...

Chromosomal and molecular analyses of rapidly evolving organisms such as Polyommatus Latreille, 1804 blue butterflies are essential for understanding their taxonomy and evolutionary history, and the studies of populations from their type localities are crucially important for resolving problems of nomenclature and species identity. Here we present...

Chromosomal and molecular analyses of rapidly evolving organisms such as Polyommatus Latreille, 1804 blue butterflies are essential for understanding their taxonomy and evolutionary history, and the studies of populations from their type localities are crucially important for resolving problems of nomenclature and species identity. Here we present...

The Polyommatus butterflies have holocentric chromosomes, which are characterized by kinetic activity distributed along the entire chromosome length, and the highest range of haploid chromosome numbers (n) known within a single eukaryotic genus (from n = 10 to n = 226). Previous analyses have shown that these numbers most likely evolved gradually f...

Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) australorossicus, holotype, DK-27-97, n=23. Russia, Caucasus, Daghestan, Gimrinsky Range, Gunib, 1600-1800 m, 14 August 1997, A. Dantchenko leg. a, upperside, b underside

The karyotype of Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) eriwanensis Forster, 1960 from the type locality (“Eriwan” [Yerevan, Armenia]) and other localities in Armenia was investigated. The number of chromosomal elements (bivalents+ multivalents) observed in male meiosis I was found to vary from 29 to 34. In individuals with n = 34, all observed elements were re...

The karyotype of the blue butterflies from the Angarskiy Pass (Crimea), previously attributed to Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) poseidon (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851), was reexamined. In all 19 studied individuals, we found the haploid chromosome number n = 26, including 7 pairs of relatively large and 19 pairs of relatively small chromosomes. According to t...

The paper is dedicated to the rare and endangered insect species proposed for inclusion into the coming edition of the Red Book of Animals of the Republic of Armenia. Brief data on 25 species are given. Proposals for development of the system of PAs of the country targeted to improvement of insect protection are given as well

Butterflies of the subgenus Agrodiaetus Hьbner, 1822, genus Polyommatus Latreille, 1804, are the model system in studies of speciation and karyotype evolution. A unique feature of the subgenus is the highest diversity in chromosome numbers in the animal kingdom. In Agrodiaetus the number of chromosomes is stable within species and differentiated be...

Finding a new species is a rare event in easy-to-see and well-studied organisms like butterflies, especially if they inhabit well-explored areas such as the Western Palaearctic. However, even in this region, gaps in taxonomic knowledge still exist and here we report such a discovery. Using a combined analysis of chromosomal and molecular markers we...

Modern multilocus molecular techniques are a powerful tool in the detection and analysis of cryptic taxa. However, its shortcoming is that with allopatric populations it reveals phylogenetic lineages, not biological species. The increasing power of coalescent multilocus analysis leads to the situation in which nearly every geographically isolated o...

A review of the species of the family Pterophoridae inhabiting Armenia is provided. Fifty-five species representing 24 genera are listed of which 34 are recorded for the fauna of the country for the first time (marked by an asterisk).

The species-rich subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) has become one of the best studied groups of Palearctic blue butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). However, the identity and phylogenetic position of some rare taxa from Iran have remained unclear. An enigmatic, recently described Central Iranian species Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) shirkuhensis ten...

Consensus Bayesian tree of the subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) inferred from COI sequences

Consensus Bayesian tree of the subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) inferred from ITS2 sequences

The species-rich subgenus Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) has become one of the best studied groups of Palearctic blue butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). However, the identity and phylogenetic position of some rare taxa from Iran have remained unclear. An enigmatic, recently described Central Iranian species Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) shirkuhensis ten...

The butterflies of the Western Palearctic Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) ripartii species complex are model systems in evolutionary research, and are important in conservation. Despite this fact, their taxonomy is poorly elaborated since the group mostly consists of morphologically undifferentiated species. P. valiabadi sensu auctorum is supposed to be...

We have found that a taxon usually identified as A. kendevani Forster, 1956 is represented in the Elburz Mts., N. Iran by two reproductively isolated groups of butterflies that are morphologically very similar and fly in Shahkuh in the eastern part of the Elburz Mts., syntopically and synchronously. In Shahkuh these groups have different chromosome...

The reinforcement model of evolution argues that natural selection enhances pre-zygotic isolation between divergent populations or species by selecting against unfit hybrids or costly interspecific matings. Reinforcement is distinguished from other models that consider the formation of reproductive isolation to be a by-product of divergent evolutio...

Butterflies in the large Palearctic genus Agrodiaetus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) are extremely uniform and exhibit few distinguishing morphological characters. However, these insects are distinctive in one respect: as a group they possess among the greatest interspecific karyotype diversity in the animal kingdom, with chromosome numbers (n) ranging...

Lasiommata zagrossica spec. nov. is described from Iran

Agrodiaetus lukhtanovi spec. nov. from Zuvand plateau (Azerbaijan, Talysh mts) is described on the basis of morphological and karyological data.

One new species and two new subspecies of the "brown" species-complex of the genus Agrodiaetus Hubner, [1822] from Transcaucasia (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)

The taxonomic position of Plebejus tancrei is discussed. The lectotype has been selected and designated.

We have investigated the nature of highly ordered bivalent arrangement in lepidopteran spermatocytes by analysing and comparing the patterns of bivalent distribution in intact metaphase I plates of 24 closely related species of the genus Agrodiaetus (Lycaenidae). The studied species greatly differed in haploid chromosome numbers (from n = 13 to n =...

Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) zarathustra neglectus subspec. nov. from South Transcaucasus (Armenia, Megrinsky spur of Zangezur range) is described.

Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damone damone (EVERSMANN, 1841) and Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damocles rossicus DANTCHENKO & LUKHTANOV, 1993 are two morphologically similar species that fly together in the Wolga region in Russia. The haploid chromosome number of P. (Agrodiaetus) damone damone varies from n = 66 to n = 67. The karyotype consists of two gi...

A list of Rhopalocera collected in 1985-1995 from an isolated locality at the headwaters of the Don reaver. P.(A.) ripartii (Freyer, 1830) is recorded for the first time for the Central European part of Russia.

An unusual population of the lycaenid butterfly, Meleageria daphnis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), is found in the Kislovodsk area (43.8°N lat., 42.7°E long.) of southern Russia; 60% of the observed females in the adult population have been partial gynandromorphs or sexual mosaics during the period of 1988 to 1993. This site is within 30 km of the cent...

Descriptions of Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) gorbunovi, P. (A.) rovshani, P. (A.) carmon surakovi and P. (A.) phyllis nekrutenkoi (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae).

Discovery and description of Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damocles, a forgotten European butterfly species, cryptic with P. damone.

Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damocles damocles (Herrich-Schaffer, 1844), P.(A.) damocles rossicus Dantchenko & Lukhtanov, 1993, P.(A.) poseidon poseidon (Herrich-Schaffer, 1851) and P.(A.) poseidon krymaeus (Sheljuzhko, 1928) are regarded as complex of closely related species. The ecological features of P.(A.) poseidon krymaeus and P.(A.) damocles ros...