Species Celastrina asheri - Asher's Blue - Hodges#4363.8

4363.8

Celastrina asheri LaBar, Pelham & Kondla, 2022

"Celastrina asheri is named in honor of 8-year-old Asher (Fig. 43). Surname is not given in accordance with family wishes. Asher suffers from an extremely rare neurological disease called 4H (or POLR3B-related) Leukodystrophy. His perseverance and kind heart inspire everyone around him, bringing rays of sunshine into the daily struggle of living with a disease that has no cure..." (LaBar, Pelham & Kondla, 2022).

"A new western azure species, Celastrina asheri, is described from the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. A lectotype is designated for Lycaena pseudargiolus var. nigrescens Fletcher, 1903 to secure the identity of that name. C. asheri broadly overlaps with the northeastern range of C. echo (W. H. Edwards, 1864) but is usually very distinct from that species. C. lucia (W. Kirby, 1837) is narrowly sympatric with C. asheri in British Columbia, the southwest corner of Alberta and along the Rocky Mountains in Montana. As far as is known, C. asheri uses only red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) and possibly oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor) as larval foodplants, while C. echo and C. lucia use a wide variety of larval foodplants. A lack of past research and confusion as a “form” of C. echo obscured the identity of C. asheri." (LaBar, Pelham & Kondla, 2022).

LaBar, C.C., J.P. Pelham, N.G. Kondla, 2022. A new species of Celastrina from the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada with a lectotype designation of Lycaena pseudargiolus var. nigrescens Fletcher (Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae). Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey, 10(3): 1-25.