Meganola monofascia (van Son, 1933) sensu Hacker et al., 2012

The Meganola monofascia View in CoL species group

Characterisation of the species group

Nola major var. monofascia van Son, 1933 View in CoL was described from Transvaal, South Africa, based on a male holotype specimen. The drawing of the male genitalia by van Son (1933) indicated that monofascia View in CoL represents a distinct species belonging to the genus Meganola View in CoL , as it was recognised by Hacker et al. (2012).

The main diagnostic male genitalia characters of the species of this complex are the distally dilated, apically rounded-quadrangular valva, the somewhat elongate, apically rounded digitiform harpe and the relatively short, tubular phallus, which is characteristically curved dorsad and tapered distad, possessing a tiny lateral tooth subapically. The female genitalia are characterised by the short, rounded anterior apophyses, the V-shaped sinus vaginalis, the short, asymmetrical sclerotization of the distal section of the ductus bursae and the two large thorn-shaped signa bursae situated medially.

In his paper on the Meganola of Côte d’Ivoire, László (2020) addressed the apparent surplus of names in the species complex and synonymised several taxa, including M. septima Hacker, 2012 , M. octava Hacker, 2012 , M. heteromorpha Hacker, 2012 , M. dissoluta Hacker, 2012 , M. brachyvalva Hacker, 2012 , and M. pseudofuscata Hacker, 2012 , with M. monofascia , treating it as a widely distributed pan-African taxon. However, the present study has shown that the western and central African M. monofascia populations differ externally from the southern-eastern African nominotypical population in a more creamy and often darker brownish tinge. Furthermore, although both populations feature identical genitalia characters, the DNA barcode analysis supports their distinctness. Thus, M. dissoluta Hacker, 2012 stat. rev., stat. n. is revived here from synonymy as a western-central African subspecies of M. monofascia .

Taxon content

M. monofascia monofascia (van Son, 1933)

M. monofascia dissoluta Hacker, 2012 stat. rev., stat. n.

M. praefica ( Saalmüller, 1884) View in CoL

M. perfusca ( Hampson, 1911) View in CoL