Telegonus gilberti (H. Freeman, 1969)

Telegonus gilberti (H. Freeman, 1969) is a species distinct from Telegonus hopfferi ( Plötz, 1881)

Genomic analysis reveals that Astraptes gilberti H. Freeman, 1969 (type locality in Mexico, San Luis Potosí, holotype sequenced as NVG-15104B08), currently regarded as a junior subjective synonym of Telegonus hopfferi ( Plötz, 1881) , stat. rest. (type locality in Mexico, likely south-central or southern, lectotype sequenced as NVG-22068G07), is in a different clade from several species of Telegonus Hübner, [1819] (type species Papilio talus Cramer, 1777 ) that include also Telegonus alector (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1867) (type locality Colombia: Bogota) ( Fig. 61 View Fig ), and is prominently differentiated from T. hopfferi genetically; e.g., COI barcode difference of 2.6% (17 bp). Therefore, we propose that Telegonus gilberti (Freeman, 1969), stat. rest. is a species distinct from Telegonus hopfferi (Plötz, 1881), stat. rest.

Judging from the specimens we sequenced, T. gilberti ranges from the Río Grande Valley in Texas ( USA) through Tamaulipas and Jalisco ( Mexico) to Costa Rica.