The Lasiocampidae (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampoidea) of Maputo Special Reserve, Mozambique: a provisional checklist with descriptions of three new species and taxonomic notes
Author
Takano, Hitoshi
African Natural History Research Trust, Street Court, Leominster, HR 6 9 QA, UK.
Author
László, Gyula M.
0000-0001-9862-8290
African Natural History Research Trust, Street Court, Leominster, HR 6 9 QA, UK.
gyula.laszlo@anhrt.org.uk
text
Zootaxa
2024
2024-08-05
5492
2
231
259
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5360.3.8
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5492.2.5
1175-5326
13219306
4EBF5CFE-4C49-4D87-A4B2-514640ACED97
Eutricha morosa
(
Walker, 1865
)
(
Fig. 39
)
[4L]—
1♂
.
Remarks
.
Lebeda morosa
Walker, 1865
was one of several species of African moths described by Francis Walker from the collection of William D’Urban (1836–1934). Walker stated the type locality simply as “
South Africa
” but it can be presumed the specimens originated from the East London/King William’s Town area where D’Urban was based in the early 1860’s (
Trimen 1887
). Upon his return to
England
, he became the first curator of RAMM where his
Lepidoptera
collections were on public display as recently as the 1930s and the cabinets could be browsed by visitors at their leisure (H. Morgenroth, pers. comm.).
Zolotuhin & Gurkovich (2009)
could not locate the
holotype
in NHMUK and designated a
neotype
to “clear up the nomenclatural situation” (
Zolotuhin & Gurkovich 2009: 37
). Perhaps an assumption was made that all of Walker’s types are found in NHMUK (which is certainly not the case—there are many in OUMNH), or they were aware of the reference in
Horn
et al
. (1990)
to some of D’Urban’s South African
Lepidoptera
being in NHMUK via the Joicey Bequest. The
neotype
designation is however invalid as it was not sufficiently in accordance with the qualifying conditions listed under Article 75.3 of the
ICZN (1999)
, namely Articles 75.3.4 (“reasons for believing the name-bearing type specimen to be lost or destroyed, and the steps that had been taken to trace it”) and 75.3.6 (“evidence that the
neotype
came as nearly as practicable from the original type locality”). The specimen designated as the
neotype
in NHMUK from Mvuma in central
Zimbabwe
(at an elevation of
1400 m
a.s.l.) is over
1500 km
as the crow flies from where D’Urban’s specimen was likely caught within the MPA in coastal
South Africa
. Based on the close proximity and similar habitat of MSR to the type locality of Walker’s taxon, it is believed that the figured specimen (
Fig. 39
) refers to the true
E. morosa
. It is interesting to note that a publicly available barcode (GWOSG024-10) of an ‘
E. morosa
’ specimen from eastern
Zimbabwe
differs from MSR, Zambian and Tanzanian specimens with PWDs of 2.2–2.7% (n=5) suggesting that the
neotype
specimen may refer to a different taxon entirely. The natural history stores at RAMM could not be accessed during the period of this present research but it is possible that Walker’s
holotype
specimen is extant, and a new
neotype
designation will not be made until further investigations are conducted.