Meganola bispermutata bispermutata Hacker, 2012

Meganola bispermutata bispermutata Hacker, 2012

( Figs 18–21 View Figures 1–20 View Figures 21–40 , 100–101 View Figures 93–101 , 147 View Figures 144–151 )

Meganola bispermutata Hacker, 2012 View in CoL , Esperiana 17: 368. TL: RSA, Port St-Johns. Holotype, male, in coll. A. Legrain, later in RMCA.

Synonymy.

Meganola meridianissima Hacker, 2012 View in CoL , Esperiana 17: 391. TL: RSA, W. Cape. Holotype, male, in coll. MfN.

Meganola derrae Hacker, 2012 View in CoL , syn. n., Esperiana 17: 388. TL: Kenya, South Coast, Buda forest. Holotype, male, in coll. MWM/ZSM.

Meganola stigmatolalis Hacker, 2012 View in CoL syn. n., Esperiana 17: 504. TL: Ethiopia, Southern Province, Welkite. Holotype, male, in coll. H. Hacker /ZSM.

Material examined (all in coll. ANHRT).

Malawi. 1 male, Mzuzu Wildlife Sanctuary, ( Afromontane forest ), 1294m, 11°27'30.2"S, 34°03'11.3"E, 22–27.vi.2022, MV light trap, leg. Kirk-Spriggs, A., Miles, W., gen. slide No.: LGNA 1583 GoogleMaps . Mozambique. Maputo Special Reserve , see László & Vetina (2019) ; 9 males, 1 female, Manica Province, Chimanimani National Reserve, Moribane Forest, Ndzou Camp , ( Moist Forest ), 630m, 19°44'01.4"S, 33°20'15.1"E, 3–5.viii.2018, actinic and LepiLED light trap, László, G., Miles, W., Vetina, A., gen. slide Nos: LGNA 637, LGNA 639, LGNA 640 (males), LGNA 644 (female) GoogleMaps . RSA. 1 male, Krüger NP, P. Krüger Gate, Garden of Protea Hotel , 300m, 22–23.iii.2014, leg. M. Hluchy & G. László, gen. slide No.: LGNA 207 . Uganda. 1 female, Bwindi Impenetrable N.P., Cuckooland Lodge , 1700m, 01°00'17"S, 29°43'06"E, 28–29.vi.2022, leg. Naumann, S., Ott, E., Schintlmeister, A., Sulak, H., gen. slide No.: LGNA 1716 GoogleMaps .

Genetic information. Both subspecies of this species belong to the BIN URI: BOLD ABU7264. The intraspecific divergence of the nominotypical taxon calculated from four samples is 0.00–0.82%. The PWD between the two subspecies is in the range of 0.61–1.31%. The morphologically closest relatives of M. bispermutata bispermutata are M. diagrapha and M. saotomeana sp. n., diverging by 2.81–3.34% and 2.66–3.35%, respectively.

Taxonomic note. Hacker ( Hacker et al. 2012) described two additional species that show no noticeable morphological divergence from M. bispermutata : M. derrae from southern Kenya and M. stigmatolalis from the Southern Province of Ethiopia. Since they lack distinctive morphological characters, these two species are considered northern populations of M. bispermutata bispermutata , and consequently, they are synonymised here: M. derrae syn. n. and M. stigmatolalis syn. n.

Distribution. Meganola bispermutata occurs sympatrically with M. monofascia in the RSA and Mozambique, where the identification of the two species can only be confirmed by genitalia dissection. The species has also been recorded from southern Kenya under the name M. derrae and southern Ethiopia as M. stigmatolalis ( Hacker et al. 2012) . In this study, M. bispermutata has been newly recorded from Malawi and Uganda. Interestingly, despite extensive sampling efforts by the ANHRT, it has not been found in Zambia.