Does Leptidea juvernica (Lepidoptera: pieridae) is rare species in Lithuania?

Abstract

Two sibling species, Leptidea sinapis and L. juvernica, occur sympatrically in Lithuania. Only a few papers dealing with Leptidea species distribution in Lithuania have been published during the past 15 years. The purpose of our research is to examine intra- and interspecific genital measurement variations in L. sinapis and L. juvernica and to report new distributional records for L. juvernica from Lithuania. The butterflies were collected at 13 localities in 10 administrative districts of Lithuania from 2005 to 2010. Our study has shown that morphological approach based on measurements of length of phallus and saccus in the male genitalia, and length of ductus bursae in the female genitalia can be used for separating the specimens of Leptidea collected in Lithuania. Since 2004, L. juvernica was considered as rare species in Lithuania, but our findings suggest that L. juvernica can be widespread in the country. The examined material yielded new distributional records of L. juvernica at 9 new localities in 7 administrative districts of Lithuania. We expect the species to occupy far more sites than have been recorded until now.