Telegonus (Rhabdoides) adoba ( Evans, 1952 ) Zhang & Cong & Shen & Song & 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) adoba ( Evans, 1952) , stat. nov. is a species distinct from Telegonus (Rhabdoides) cretatus Hayward, 1939

Genomic analysis of over two dozen Telegonus (Rhabdoides) cretatus Hayward, 1939 (type locality in Ecuador: Napo) specimens from across the range reveals that they partition into two comb-like clades genetically differentiated at the species level ( Fig. 10). The first clade includes specimens from French Guiana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Amazonian Brazil and corresponds to the nominate subspecies. The second clade is composed of specimens from the Atlantic states of Brazil from Bahia to Santa Catarina and represents a taxon originally described as a subspecies Astraptes cretatus adoba Evans, 1952 (type locality in Brazil: Espírito Santo) and currently treated as such, but now placed in Telegonus (Rhabdoides) . Although it differs by only 0.6% (4 bp) from the nominate subspecies, this difference is consistent throughout the range, and the nuclear genome clades suggest a species-level distinction. Phenotypically, the Atlantic taxon is darker than the Amazonian (e.g., nearly lacking the ventral forewing green/white area by the costal margin at the base) and has a typically less robust serrated dorsal ridge of the harpe with a more rounded ventrocaudal angle. Therefore, we propose Telegonus (Rhabdoides) adoba ( Evans, 1952) , stat. nov. is a species distinct from Telegonus (Rhabdoides) cretatus Hayward, 1939 .