Praephilotes

Praephilotes is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. The genus is monotypic containing the single species Praephilotes anthracias known from Kazakhstan (desert tracts of Atyrau Region, southern Altai, near Lake Zaysan, south of the Ili River valley, Baygakum), Uzbekistan (valley of the river Syr Darya), Turkmenistan (Krasnovodsk, Ashgabat, Small Balkhan), Tajikistan (Vakhsh valley, Kafirnigan), western China. The most northern locality is known from Lake Elton neighborhoods. Also known from the south of Russia - Astrakhan region, where the species was first discovered only in 1999. Now there are several populations of sandy massifs Bolhuny and Batpaysagyr. In the western part of the desert Batpaysagyr species occurs in many localities: Dosanga, Aksaraiskaya, Komsomolsk, etc. can be usually in habitats.