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).