Telegonus fulgerator, the two-barred flasher, is a species of spread-wing skipper butterfly in the family Hesperiidae which may constitute a possible cryptic species complex. It ranges all over the Americas, from the southern United States to northern Argentina.
Description
Telegonus fulgerator is a mid-sized skipper butterfly with the wing shape typical of this group. The upperside is black, with basal to postbasal blue corners which are more extensive on the forewings. There is one discal-tomal and one apical band on the forewing; these are usually off white to light blue but the former may be quite white towards the costal margin. The thorax has bluish hair on the back, the underside is yellow to orange.
The caterpillars and pupae show a wide range of colors and patterns, and the caterpillars also vary in food preference. Last-instar caterpillars are black with a pattern consisting of light to bright yellow dots along the sides, or rings of varying thickness, sometimes interrupted on the back, in a range of colors varying from white to orange red.
- Fabaceae
- Inga: I. exalata, I. oerstediana, I. punctata, I. sapindoides, I. vera and probably others
- Lonchocarpus (see also below)
- Senna: candle bush (S. alata), S. cobanensis, S. hayesiana, S. pallida, S. papillosa, S. undulata and probably others
- Malvaceae
- Hampea appendiculata (but see below)
- Sapindaceae
- Cupania: C. glabra, C. guatemalensis and probably others
Selected secondary and accidental food plants
Cryptic variation
The exact number of taxa involved is disputed, most of the "species" detected by the DNA barcoding study seem to be nothing more than morphs or incipient subspecies, coupled with a serious underestimation of variation. Still, two lineages appear to be well distinct and separable at least as subspecies: