A new species of Urbanus skipper has just been described from Cuba. It is endemic and very similar to the Common Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus proteus. A specimen caught near Habana has been subjected to DNA analysis and found to be a separate species. It has been named Urbanus cubanus Grishin. Another specimen collected collected from Habana nearly 100 years ago (on 3 March 1927) has also been found to be U. cubanus. It has been placed in the phylogenetic tree between Urbanus proteus and its sister species Urbanus velinus which is found in South America.

What we don't know at this stage is the distribution of the two species in Cuba. We don't know if they are sympatric or whether they are separated zonally. And it's not clear to me yet if they can be safely differentiated on upperwing pattern alone. The wonderful photo above taken near Habana a few years ago was assumed then to be Urbanus proteus. Perhaps it is or perhaps it is the new Urbanus cubanus. The paper describes it differing from its closest relative U. proteus in broader and straighter ventral hindwing dark bands and a darker area by mid-costa, hyaline spot in forewing cell CuA1-CuA2 closer aligned with the spot in discal cell rather than shifted distad, absent or small submarginal hyaline spots in forewing cells M1-M2 and M2-M3 and also differences in the genitalia. Time will tell.

Between September 2023 and May 2024 Yosiel Álvarez and colleagues have carried out several butterfly surveys in the far south-east of Cuba. The two species are  Antillean Blue Pseudochrysops bornoi and Toussaint's Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon toussainti.  Both had been found previously on only a very small number of occasions but have now been discovered to be a little more widespread than previously thought and the latter was even found inland for the first time, in fact 20km inland and at a height of 420m. You can read the paper on their rediscovery in Cuba here (Gallardo & Álvarez, 2024).