HYBRID SKIPPER BUTTERFLY CHARACTERIZED BY FACIES, GENITALIA, AND GENOMES (LEPIDOPTERA: HESPERIIDAE: PYRGINAE). Erynnis

The genitalia of an unusually pale and uniform male of Gesta (Erynnides) from central Texas are intermediate between those of Gesta horatius and Gesta tristis tatius, apparently owing to interspecific hybridization. These widely distributed sister species (mainly from the eastern United States and from the southwestern United States to Colombia, respectively) are narrowly sympatric. Four different methods of analyzing data from whole genome sequencing of 7 specimens of each parental species, 6 specimens of a closely related species (as an outgroup), and the specimen with the peculiar genitalia indisputably show that it is an F1 hybrid whose mother is G. t. tatius. The superficial appearance of this hybrid does not suggest either parent.