Bombycopsis (Bufoidia) nigrovittata Aurivillius, 1927

Takano, Hitoshi & László, Gyula M., 2024, The Lasiocampidae (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampoidea) of Maputo Special Reserve, Mozambique: a provisional checklist with descriptions of three new species and taxonomic notes, Zootaxa 5492 (2), pp. 231-259 : 235

Bombycopsis (Bufoidia) nigrovittata Aurivillius, 1927

( Figs 49–53 )

[3B]— 1♂; [3C]— 1♂; [3D]— 1♂; [4A]— 3♂♂; [4B]— 1♀; [4C]— 6♂♂; [4D]— 17♂♂; [4G]— 1♂; [4H]— 4♂♂; [4I]— 5♂♂.

Remarks. In Joannou & Krüger’s (2009) revision of Bombycopsis C. Felder & R. Felder, 1874 , B. (Bufoidia) pallida Joannou & Krüger, 2009 , a sympatric new species allied to B. nigrovittata , was described based mainly on phenotypic differences despite noting the latter was very variable in colouration. Prozorov et al. (2023) found barcodes of both phenotypes to be almost identical (maximum PWD of 0.3%) and yet they maintained that “stable morphological differences” were not supported by the genetics in spite of the aforementioned variability of B. nigrovittata and the identical genitalia. Numerous specimens in ANHRT of B. nigrovittata (including insects with the pallida phenotype) from throughout its range ( South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia) were recently barcoded and it is apparent that B. pallida is merely a pale form of B. nigrovittata and the former is synonymised with the latter, thus: Bombycopsis (Bufoidia) nigrovittata Aurivillius, 1927 = B. (Bufoidia) pallida Joannou & Krüger, 2009 syn. n. (junior subjective synonymy).

Figures

FIGURES 49–59. Adults (all in coll. ANHRT and collected in MSR). 49. Bombycopsis nigrovittata, ♂. 50. Id., ♀. 51. Id., ♂. 52. Id., ♂. 53. Id., ♂. 54. B. bipars, ♂. 55. Hypotrabala argenteoguttata, ♂. 56. Grammodora nigrolineata, ♂. 57. Id., ♀. 58. Catalebeda cuneilinea, ♂. 59. Id., ♂.