Melitaea latonigena Eversmann, 1847.
An example where difference in chromosome number was used as a prove of species rank of this taxon, which in Altai Mts. fly on intermediate altitudes whereas the most close species Melitaea didyma (Esper, 1779) flies on low altitides on the Altai piedmonts (Lukhtanov, Kuznetsova, 1989).
Range: The mountains of South Siberia and Mongolia, East Siberia north-east to the Nera River basin.
ssp.: atrata Higgins, 1935; range: the Sayan and South Siberia eastwards.
A copulation
Russia, Siberia, Tyva Republic, Todzha District, the Azas Nature Reserve, a southern steppen slope of a mountain on the northern bank of Lake Azas at the Ilgi-Chul brook mouth, 52o44' N 96o36' E, alt. 1000 m, 23rd July 2000. O. Kosterin.