Albuna beutenmulleri Skinner (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) is endemic to eastern and southern Utah, feeds on primrose (Oenothera pallida Lindl.), and is distinctly colored with opaque, orange-red wings. However, A. beutenmulleri was synonymized as a color variant of the widely distributed A. pyramidalis (Walker). Thus, given the criteria of monophyly, we tested the species status of A. beutenmulleri in the context of Albuna species. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA revealed that specimens of A. beutenmulleri and A. pyramidalis were reciprocally monophyletic. The nucleotide difference between species was ~8% which was similar to the distance among other Albuna species and exceeded the intraspecific difference by ten times. Given phylogenetic and life history evidence, we recognize A. beutenmulleri as a distinct species from A. pyramidalis and describe a yellow variant of A. beutenmulleri.