Kretania

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Superfamilia: Papilionoidea

Familia: Lycaenidae
Subfamilia: Polyommatinae
Tribus: Polyommatini
Genus: Kretania
Species: (20)
K. alcedo – K. allardii – K. beani – K. csomai – K. eurypilus – K. hesperica – K. iranica – K. martini – K. modica – K. nicholli – K. patriarcha – K. philbyi – K. psylorita – K. pylaon – K. sephirus – K. stekolnikovi – K. trappi – K. usbeka – K. zephyrinus – K. zamotajlovi

[see Talavera et al., 2013]
Name

Kretania Beuret, 1959: 83.

Type species: Lycaena psylorita Freyer, 1845: 146, pl. 469, figs 3, 4.
Synonyms

Plebejides Sauter, 1968: 4. Type species: Lycaena pylaon Fischer von Waldheim, 1832: 357. Synonymy in Talavera et al., 2013: 187.

References

Bálint, Z. 1991. Egy xeromontán boglárkalepke: a Plebejus pylaon (Fischer von Waldheim, 1832) és rokonsági köre (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae), I. (A xeromontane lycaenid butterfly species: Plebejus pylaon (Fischer von Waldheim, 1832) and its relatives (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Part I.) Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 35 (1990): 33–69., Pécs. [in Hungarian, with English abstract] Full article. Reference page. 
Bálint, Z. 1992. A New Species of Plebejides Sauter, 1968 from Central Asia. (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Atalanta 23(1/2): 133–138, 304–305. PDF. Reference page. 
Beuret, H. 1959. Zur Taxonomie einiger paläarktischer Bläulinge (Lep., Lycaenidae). Mitteilungen der Entomologischen Gesellschaft Basel 9(4): 80–84. Reference page. 
Freyer, C.F. 1831–1858. Neuere Beiträge zur Schmetterlingskunde mit Abbildungen nach der Natur. Augsburg, Reiger. 4to 7 volumes, 120 parts, 700 col. pls. Reference page. 
Sauter, W. 1968. Hilfstabellen zur Bestimmung europäischer Lycaeniden (Lep. Lycaenidae). Mitteilungen der Entomologischen Gesellschaft Basel 18(1): 1–17. Reference page. 
Shchurov, V.I. & Lukhtanov, V.A. 2001. Notes on the taxonomy of the genus Kretania (Beuret, 1959) with the description of a new species from the Black Sea Coast of Russia (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Atalanta 32(1–2): 217–225. Full article (PDF). Reference page. 
Stradomsky, B.V. & Tikhonov, V.V. 2015. Molecular genetics study of some Caucasian representatives of the genus Kretania Beuret, 1959 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) with the description of a new species Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 11(1): 183–187. Full article (PDF). Reference page. 
Talavera, G., Lukhtanov, V.A., Pierce, N.E. & Vila, R., 2013. Establishing criteria for higher-level classification using molecular data: the systematics of Polyommatus blue butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Cladistics 29(2): 166–192. Reference page. 
ten Hagen, W., 2013. Kretania eurypilus (Freyer, [1851]) und verwandte Taxa (Teil 2): Ergebnisse neuer Untersuchungen (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo, N.F. 34(1/2): 39-50. (PDF). Reference page. 

Kretania is a Palearctic genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae.[1]

Species

Listed alphabetically within groups:[2]

The eurypilus species-group:

Kretania csomai (Bálint, 1992)
Kretania eurypilus (Freyer, 1852) – eastern brown argus
Kretania iranica (Forster, 1938)
Kretania psylorita (Freyer, 1845) – Cretan argus
Kretania zamotajlovi Shchurov & Lukhtanov, 2001

The pylaon species-group:

Kretania allardii (Oberthür, 1874)
Kretania beani (Bálint & Johnson, 1997)
Kretania hesperica (Rambur, 1840)
Kretania klausrosei (Bálint, 1992)
Kretania martini (Allard, 1867) – Martin's blue
Kretania modica (Verity, 1935)
Kretania nicholli (Elwes, 1901)
Kretania patriarcha (Bálint, 1992)
Kretania philbyi (Graves, 1925)
Kretania pylaon (Fischer de Waldheim, 1832) – zephyr blue
Kretania sephirus (Frivaldszky, 1835)
Kretania stekolnikovi Stradomsky & Tikhonov, 2015
Kretania trappi (Verity, 1927)
Kretania usbekus (Forster, 1939)
Kretania zephyrinus (Christoph, 1884)

The alcedo species-group:

Kretania alcedo (Christoph, 1877)

Taxonomy

Kretania used to be often included in Polyommatus or in Plebejus, but molecular studies have led to reinstate it as a valid genus, now also encompassing species formerly included in Plebejides (i.e. the pylaon species-group), and K. alcedo (formerly in Vacciniina).
References

"Kretania". Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Savela, Markku. "Kretania Beuret, 1959". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved August 8, 2019.