Telegonus (Rhabdoides) flavimargo Grishin, 2025

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2025, Update to: Advancing butterfly systematics through genomic analysis, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 12 (6), pp. 1-36 : 13

Telegonus (Rhabdoides) flavimargo Grishin, 2025 , Telegonus (Rhabdoides) panamus Grishin, 2025 , and Telegonus (Rhabdoides) tatus Grishin, 2025 are confirmed as species-level taxa by sequencing of additional specimens

Genomic analysis enables us to confidently propose new species from a single specimen of either sex that is genetically differentiated from others at the species level ( Zhang et al. 2025a). However, even fortified with the whole genome shotgun dataset, this single-specimen approach carries a risk of describing a hybrid or a contaminated dataset as a “species,” despite all the precautions and careful analysis we undertake. Therefore, we strive to find and sequence additional specimens of the newly proposed species and investigate them further. Here, we confirm the species-level status of Telegonus (Rhabdoides) flavimargo Grishin, 2025 (type locality in Costa Rica: Limón, 2 additional specimens) ( Fig. 8 green) and Telegonus (Rhabdoides) tatus Grishin, 2005 (type locality in Panama: Panamá, 6 additional specimens) ( Fig. 10 maroon) proposed from a single specimen and Telegonus (Rhabdoides) panamus Grishin, 2025 (type locality in Panama: Barro Colorado Island, 4 additional specimens) originally described from the holotype and the paratype ( Fig. 10 purple). For all these species, additional specimens group closely with the holotypes in the genomic trees, resulting in comb-like clades characteristic of conspecific specimens. Although for T. flavimargo all three known specimens are from the same locality ( Costa Rica: Limón Province, Guapiles), we are able to extend the known distribution for the other two species: T. panamus has been recorded from both central (around the Panama Canal) and eastern Panama (Darien) ( Fig. 10 purple); and two specimens from northern Ecuador fall in the same clade among T. tatus specimens from central Panama and therefore, we identify them as this species ( Fig. 10 maroon).

Figures

Fig. 8. Phylogenetic trees of selected Telegonus (Rhabdoides) species from the creteus group constructed from protein-coding regions in: a) the Z chromosome, based on 240,963 positions, and b) the mitochondrial genome. Different species are colored differently: T. chiapus (maroon), T. chiriquensis (blue), T. colotrix (purple), T. erana (orange), T. flavimargo (green), T. flavifimbro sp. n. (magenta; data lines are folded above (HT) and below (PT) to fit the page), T. creteus (olive), and T. sobrasus (cyan).

Fig. 10. Phylogenetic trees of Telegonus (Rhabdoides) species from the parmenides group constructed from protein-coding regions in: a) the Z chromosome, based on 267,339 positions, and b) the mitochondrial genome. Different species are colored differently: T. parmenides (olive), T. panamus (purple), T. tatus (maroon), T. cretatus (blue), T. adoba stat. nov. (green), T. chuchuvianus (magenta), T. meretrix (orange), and T. fulvimargo (cyan). Gaps in terminal branches indicate that a segment of a branch was cut out to reduce its length (to allow an increase in the font size), i.e., a branch with a gap is longer than shown.