Reassessment of Amblyscirtes hegon (Hesperiidae) as a Complex of Four Distinct Species Revealed by Genomic Analysis

Authors

Harry Pavulaan, International Lepidoptera Survey
Ricky Patterson, Vicksburg, Mississipp
Nick V. Grishin, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at DallasFollow

Date of this Version

12-10-2023

Document Type

Article

Citation

Pavulaan, H., R. Patterson & N. V. Grishin. 2023. Reassessment of Amblyscirtes hegon (Hesperiidae) as a complex of four distinct species revealed by genomic analysis. The Taxonomic Report 11(5): 1-39.

Comments

Copyright 2023, the International Lepidoptera Survey. Open access material

License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-SA-NC 4.0 International)

Abstract

After the discovery of a unique phenotype in the southern United States with a different ventral ground color than nominotypical Amblyscirtes hegon (Scudder, 1863), which occurs in the northeastern United States, genomic analysis revealed that A. hegon is a species complex. Phenotypic, genitalic, and genomic differences of the complex are presented here. Four species are identified: A. hegon; A. nemoris (W. H. Edwards, 1864), stat. rest.; A. matheri Patterson, Pavulaan & Grishin, sp. n. (TL: USA, Mississippi, Warren County); and A. gelidus Grishin, Patterson & Pavulaan, sp. n. (TL: USA, Michigan, Van Buren County).