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), 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.