Astraptes

Astraptes fulgerator complex Astraptes is a genus of butterflys that has recently been investigated with DNA barcoding techniques. It currently contains only one species: "Astraptes fulgerator" but this is currently under revision.

This species was known as a “cryptic species ”, i.e. to include populations that are morphologically indistinguishable, but are reproductively isolated. Indeed the adults look similar, but the caterpillars can be quite different and use different food plants. Therefore there were doubts whether this was a single species. A small sample from north-western Costa Rica was examined. DNA barcoding showed that there were at least ten species involved. Since this species can be found from southern USA to northern Argentina, one can wonder how more species are being categorized as “Astraptes fulgerator”.