Astraptes

Flasher butterflies
Astraptes anaphus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Subfamily:	Eudaminae
Genus:	Astraptes Hübner, [1819]
Species
Several, see text

Astraptes is the genus of flasher butterflies. They belong to the skipper butterfly subfamily Eudaminae, which was long included with the spread-winged skippers (Pyrginae) as a tribe. They are found in the Nearctic and Neotropical ecozones.

Astraptes and related genera depicted in Adalbert Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World

Species include:

• Astraptes alardus (Stoll, 1790) – frosted flasher – Mexico to Colombia, Brazil
  • A. alardus alardus Suriname, Venezuela
  • A. alardus habana (Lucas, 1857) Cuba
  • A. alardus heriul (Mabille & Boullet, 1912) Dominican Republic
  • A. alardus latia Evans, 1952 Mexico, Costa Rica
  • A. alardus aquila Evans, 1952 Colombia
• Astraptes alector (C. & R. Felder, 1867) – Gilbert's flasher
  • A. alector alector Colombia
  • A. alector hopfferi (Plötz, 1881) Mexico, Central America, Peru
  • Astraptes anaphus (Cramer, [1777]) – yellow-tipped flasher – South America, Greater Antilles to south Texas
  • A. anaphus anaphus Suriname, Brazil (Bahia)
  • A. anaphus anausis (Godman & Salvin, 1896) St. Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica
  • A. anaphus aniza Evans, 1952 Peru
  • A. anaphus annetta Evans, 1952 Mexico, Costa Rica
  • A. anaphus anoma Evans, 1952 Trinidad
• Astraptes apastus (Cramer, [1777]) Guiana, Guyane, Brazil, Peru, Trinidad, Mexico
  • A. apastus apastus Suriname
  • A. apastus pusa Evans, 1952 Brazil (Bahia)
• Astraptes aulus (Plötz, 1881) Panama to Brazil
• Astraptes brevicauda (Plötz, 1886) Belize, Panama, Nicaragua, Peru
• Astraptes cassander (Fabricius, 1793) Cuba, Costa Rica
• Astraptes chiriquensis (Staudinger, 1876) Panama to Colombia
  • A. chiriquensis chiriquensis Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua
  • A. chiriquensis meretrix (Hewitson, 1876) Ecuador
  • A. chiriquensis oenander (Hewitson, 1876) Brazil (Pará)
  • A. chiriquensis erana Evans, 1952 Ecuador
• Astraptes cretatus (Hayward, 1939)
  • A. cretatus cretatus Ecuador, Brazil (Amazonas)
  • A. cretatus adoba Evans, 1952 Brazil (Espírito Santo)
• Astraptes creteus (Cramer, [1780]) Mexico to Amazon Brazil
  • A. creteus creteus Suriname
  • A. creteus siges (Mabille, 1903) Brazil
  • A. creteus crana Evans, 1952 south Mexico to Guatemala
  • A. creteus crilla Evans, 1952 Ecuador
  • A. creteus cyprus Evans, 1952 Bolivia
• Astraptes egregius (Butler, 1870) – small-spotted flasher – Mexico to Colombia, Trinidad
  • A. egregius egregius
  • A. egregius coxeyi (Williams, 1931) Ecuador
• Astraptes elorus (Hewitson, 1867) Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina
• Astraptes enotrus (Stoll, [1781]) Guiana, Guyane, Suriname, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Trinidad
• Astraptes erycina (Plötz, 1881) Brazil
• Astraptes fulgerator – two-barred flasher – south Texas, Mexico to Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Trinidad
  • A. fulgerator fulgerator Suriname, Peru
  • A. fulgerator azul Reakirt, [1867]) Texas, Mexico, Bolivia
• Astraptes fulgor Hayward, 1939) Argentina
• Astraptes galesus (Mabille, 1888)
  • A. galesus galesus Peru, Ecuador
  • A. galesus cassius Evans, 1952 Costa Rica
• Astraptes halesius (Hewitson, 1877) French Guiana, Peru
• Astraptes jaira (Butler, 1870) West Indies, Jamaica
• Astraptes janeira (Schaus, 1902) Brazil, Suriname, Colombia, Paraguay
• Astraptes latimargo (Herrich-Schäffer, 1869)
  • A. latimargo latimargo Panama
  • A. latimargo bifascia (Herrich-Schäffer, 1869)
  • A. latimargo tinda Evans, 1952 Brazil (Pará)
• Astraptes mabillei Steinhauser, 1989 Bolivia
• Astraptes megalurus (Mabille, 1877) Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia
• Astraptes naxos (Hewitson, 1867) Brazil, Colombia
• Astraptes palliolum (Druce, 1908) Costa Rica
• Astraptes phalaecus (Godman & Salvin, [1893]) Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica
• Astraptes talus (Cramer, [1777]) Central America to Brazil, Suriname, Cuba
• Astraptes tucuti (Williams, 1927) Mexico, Panama
• Astraptes xagua (Lucas, 1857)
  • A. xagua xagua Cuba
  • A. xagua christyis (Sharpe, 1898) Dominican Republic

References

• Bell, E.L., 1956: Descriptions of some new species of neotropical Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera). American Museum Novitates 1778: 1-13.
• Brower, A.V.Z. 2006: Problems with DNA barcodes for species delimitation: ‘ten species’ of Astraptes fulgerator reassessed (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Systematics and biodiversity, 4(2): 127–132.
• Brower, A.V.Z. 2010: Alleviating the taxonomic impediment of DNA barcoding and setting a bad precedent: names for ten species of ‘Astraptes fulgerator’ (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Eudaminae) with DNA-based diagnoses. Systematics and biodiversity, 8(4): 485–491.
• Hübner, 1819: Verzeichniss bekannter Schmettlinge 7: 103.pdf
• Freeman, 1967: Three new species of Hesperiidae from Mexico. Journal of the Lepidopterists's Society 21: 115-119.
• Freeman, H.A., 1969: Records, new species, and a new genus of Hesperiidae from Mexico (Supplement 2). The Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 23 (suppl. 2): 1-64.
• Steinhauser, S.R., 1989: Taxonomic notes and descriptions of new taxa in the neotropical Hesperiidae. Part I. Pyrginae. Bulletin of the Allyn Museum 127: 1-70.

External links

• Images representing Astraptes at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• Butterflies of the Americas images