Brief review of the Azygophleps legraini Yakovlev et Saldaitis, 2011 species group (Lepidoptera: Cossidae: Zeuzerinae) with descriptions of three new species from western Africa

Abstract

The article contains the descriptions of three new species: Azygophleps adamsonae Yakovlev et László, sp.n. (type locality: Cameroon, North Region, Wack (La Falaise), Azygophleps attenboroughi Yakovlev, Müller et Kravchenko, sp.n. (type locality: Southern Mali, 80 km SW Bamako, near Kineiroba, river Niger), and Azygophleps pinheyi Yakovlev et László, sp.n. (type locality: Muquitixe, Angola). The descriptions are provided with detailed diagnoses and illustrations. РЕЗЮМЕ. В статье описано три новых вида Azygophleps adamsonae Yakovlev et László, sp.n. (типовая местность: Cameroon, North Region, Wack (La Falaise)), Azygophleps attenboroughi Yakovlev, Müller et Kravchenko, sp.n. (типовая местность: Southern Mali, 80 km SW Bamako, near Kineiroba, river Niger), и Azygophleps pinheyi Yakovlev et László, sp.n. (типовая местность: Muquitixe, Angola). Описания сопровождаются подробным диагнозом и проиллюстрированы. Introduction Carpenter-Moths (Cossidae) are a relatively large family of ditrise Lepidoptera, including over thousand taxa [Nieukerken et al., 2011]. Cossidae of Africa are still insufficiently studied. The most well studied subfamily is Zeuzerinae, where several genera have recently been revised: Acosma Yakovlev, 2011 (type species, by monotypy — Acosma gurkoi Yakovlev, 2011), Tarsozeuzera Schoorl, 1990 (type species, by original designation — Zeuzera kochi Semper, 1896–1902), Paralophonotus Schoorl, 1990 (type species, by monotypy — Zeuzera auroguttata Herrich-Schäffer, 1854), Pseudozeuzera Schoorl, 1990 (type species, by monotypy — Duomitus biatra Hampson, 1910), Alophonotus Schoorl, 1990 (type species, by monotypy — Chalcidica (Duomitus) rauana Strand, 1909), and Eburgemellus Schoorl, 1990 (type species, by monotypy — Xyleutes geminatus Gaede, 1930) [Schoorl, 1990; Yakovlev, Witt, 2017a, 2018a–c; Yakovlev et al., 2018; Yakovlev, 2019]. Detailed distributional data of the taxa of the 290 R.V. Yakovlev, Gy. M. László, G.C. Müller, V.D. Kravchenko subfamily are provided for only a few countries: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana [Mey, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019]; Swaziland [Yakovlev, Witt, 2016a], Zambia [Yakovlev, 2014], Zimbabwe [Yakovlev, Lenz, 2013], Malawi [Yakovlev, Murphy, 2013] and Angola [Yakovlev et al., 2019]. One of the largest and poorly known African Zeuzerinae genera is Azygophleps Hampson, 1892 (type species, by monotypy — Hepialis scalaris Fabricius, 1775). According to the Catalog of Cossidae in the Old World [Yakovlev, 2011] the genus includes 29 valid species. Later, several new species were described from eastern and southern Africa, and several new synonyms and new combinations were established [Yakovlev, Witt, 2016b, 2017b; Mey, 2016, 2017, 2019; Yakovlev, 2019]. The species of the genus are widely distributed in the Paleotropics and in the southern Palaearctic (Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, South China) [Daniel, 1963, 1964; Arora, 1976; Hua et al., 1990; Yakovlev, 2011; Yakovlev, Dubatolov, 2013; Yakovlev et al., 2015]. In 2011, A. legraini Yakovlev et Saldaitis, 2011 (Figs 1–4, 9, 13) was described from a single specimen, from Cameroon (type locality: Adamaoua, nr. Ngaoundéré, Ngaoundaba). The species is characterized by its very small size and lemon-yellow color of the wings. Later, several specimens of this rare species have been found in the collections of the Royal Museum of Central Africa and the African Natural History Research Trust from Cameroon and Congo. Further three, similar species have also been found from Mali, Angola and Cameroon, all clearly differing from A. legraini externally as well as in the male genitalia structures. The descriptions of these three new species are given below. Material and methods Adults of Cossidae were collected using light traps. Male genitalia were dissected and mounted in euparal on microscope slides following the standard methods [Lafontaine, Mikkola, 1987; Lafontaine, 2004]. The adults were photographed using a Nikon D90 SLR camera equipped with Nikkor AF Micro 60 mm lens and iPhone7. The genitalia preparations were photographed using a Canon Figs 1–8. Azygophleps legraini species group: 1 — A. legraini, holotype, male (RMCA); 2 — A. legraini, male, Cameroon, North Region, Wack (La Falaise), 900m, 07°40 ́16.5 ́ ́N, 13°33 ́18.4 ́ ́E, 2–21.x.2018, General coll. Safian, Sz., Simonics, G. leg. ANHRT 2018.36 (ANHRT); 3 — A. legraini, male, [Congo], Lulua, Kapanga, 8.1933, F.G. Overlaet (RMCA); 4 — A. legraini, female, [Congo], Lubumbashi, 12.06.1934 (RMCA); 5 — A. adamsonae Yakovlev et László, sp.n., holotype, male (ANHRT); 6 — A. attenboroughi Yakovlev, Müller et Kravchenko, sp.n., holotype, male (MWM); 7 — A. attenboroughi Yakovlev, Müller et Kravchenko, sp.n., paratype, male (MWM); 8 — Azygophleps pinheyi Yakovlev et László, sp.n., holotype, male (NHMZ). Рис. 1–8. Группа видов Azygophleps legraini: 1 — A. legraini, голотип, самец (RMCA); 2 — A. legraini, самец, Cameroon, North Region, Wack (La Falaise), 900m, 07°40 ́16.5 ́́ N, 13°33 ́18.4 ́́ E, 2–21.x.2018, General coll. Safian, Sz., Simonics, G. leg. ANHRT 2018.36 (ANHRT); 3 — A. legraini, самец, [Congo], Lulua, Kapanga, 8.1933, F.G. Overlaet (RMCA); 4 — A. legraini, самка, [Congo], Lubumbashi, 12.06.1934 (RMCA); 5 — A. adamsonae Yakovlev et Lászlу, sp.n., голотип, самец (ANHRT); 6 — A. attenboroughi Yakovlev, Müller et Kravchenko, sp.n., голотип, самец (MWM); 7 — A. attenboroughi Yakovlev, Müller et Kravchenko, sp.n., паратип, самец (MWM); 8 — Azygophleps pinheyi Yakovlev et László, sp.n., голотип, самец (NHMZ). 1 2 3