Homadaula albida Mey, 2004

Mey, Wolfram, 2022, Unexpected diversity: ten new species of Homadaula Lower, 1899 from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula (Galacticoidea: Galacticidae), Metamorphosis 33 (1), pp. 21-33 : 22

Homadaula albida Mey, 2004

Material: 1 ♂, Namibia, Kaokoveld, Purros Camp , 400 m, 18°44′05′′S 12°56′31′′E, 21.xii.2004, leg. H. S. Staude (coll. H.S. Staude) ; 1 ♂, Namibia, Waterberg National Park , 30.x–1.xi.2007, leg. V. Richter ( MfN) ; 1 ♀, Namibia, Hoanib River , Khowareb, LF, 2.ii.2009, leg. W. Mey ( MfN) ; 1 ♀, Namibia, Gamsberg , northern slope, 25.i.2007, leg. W. Mey & K. Ebert ( MfN) ; 1 ♂, Namibia , Naukluft NP, campside, 29–31.i.2007, leg. W. Mey & K. Ebert ( MfN) ; RSA, Mpumalanga, Sericea Farm , 28– 30.xi.2004, LF ( MfN) ; 3 ♂, 6 ♀, Cameroon, Garoua, Faro Nat. Park , 300 m, 8°23′36′′N 12°49′29,3′′E, 28.iv–9. v.2005, leg. Knut Larsen & Toke Zandersen (coll. K. Larsen, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, MfN) ; 3 ♀, Kenya, Central , Samburu, 3000 ft., 3–4.iv.2000, cleared abdomen in glycerol vial, leg. D. Agassiz (coll. Agassiz) .

Remarks: The species was previously known only from Namibia and South Africa. The locality in Cameroon is situated in the dry Savannah zone in the north of the country offering similar ecological conditions as in southern Africa. From a biogeographical perspective, the record is interesting for its position north of the rainforest zone of West- and Central Africa, which might suggest the existence of savannah corridors across the equatorial rain forest belt in Western Africa in the past. The present distribution of tropical and subtropical rain forests in Central and West-Africa is a relatively young feature and has developed since the end of the last glaciation cycle about 18 000 years ago (Lönneberg 1929; Hamilton 1976). Before, rainforest areas existed as widely isolated patches and did not form a barrier that could prevent expansion of species from subtropical savannas and shrublands.