Afroracotis (Herbuloracotis) argillacea cedrici ( Herbulot, 1998 ) László & Hausmann & Karisch, 2023

László, Gyula M., Hausmann, Axel & Karisch, Timm, 2023, Integrative taxonomic revision of the African taxa of the Racotis Moore, 1887 generic complex (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae, Boarmiini), Zootaxa 5308 (1), pp. 1-109 : 40-41

Afroracotis (Herbuloracotis) argillacea cedrici ( Herbulot, 1998) , comb. n., stat. n.

( Figs 55–57 , 159 , 310 )

Racotis cedrici Herbulot, 1998 , Lambillionea 98: 290, figs 1, 10. Holotype female (ZSM). Type locality: Bioko Island [ Equatorial Guinea].

Type material examined

Holotype, female, “BIOKO (Fernando-Poo), Centre de l’Ile, 1000m, 25.V.–10.VI.1997, Dr J.-G. Canu” / [red label with handwritten] “ Racotis cedrici Hrblt HOLOTYPE” / “Photographed for the project “ Geometridae mundi ””, DNA barcode/BOLD process id.: BC ZSM Lep add 57924/GWOTE588-12 ( ZSM).

Paratype, female, with the same data as in the holotype, gen. slide No.: HERB 7255, DNA barcode/BOLD process id.: BC ZSM Lep 74429/GWORK1357-15 ( ZSM).

Additional material examined

Equatorial Guinea, Bioko. 1 female, Moka Malabo , ca. 500m, 0°21’N, 08°39’E, 1400m, 17.i.2004, LT 250 W HWL, leg. H. & T. Hoppe, gen. slide No.: GU TK 3205 ( SDEI) .

Taxonomic notes and genetic information. In the original description of R. cedrici , the holotype and the paratype were erroneously stated as males, nevertheless, the paper describes the female only. The undissected holotype located in the Herbulot drawer is undoubtedly a female. Surprisingly, Herbulot (1998), when he compared cedrici to argillacea , referred to the latter as Racotis without establishing a new combination for the species originally described in the genus Alcis and later assigned to Cleora ( Scoble 1999) .

The species was described from the Bioko island displaying no diagnostic external features in comparison to the continental A. argillacea argillacea described from southern central DRC. As the male of A. a. cedrici has remained unknown to date, and topotypical females of the nominotypical subspecies could not be accessed by the authors of this paper, the validity of A. a. cedrici remains dubious. Based on DNA barcoded specimens, the Bioko taxon is genetically nearly identical to the Central African nominotypical A. argillacea , at a pairwise distance of 0.00–0.46%, while it differs significantly from the West African populations of A. argillacea described below as morettoi ssp. n. by 1.23–1.39%.

Diagnosis. Due to the unknown male of ssp. cedrici and the female of the nominotypical subspecies, only the female genitalia of A. a. cedrici and A. a. morettoi ssp. n. could be compared, where A. a. cedrici differs in its considerably narrower, slightly shorter and more curved cervix-corpus bursae complex, providing a diagnostic morphological character between the Bioko and the West African populations. Owing to the lack of fresh collection materials, it is not possible to establish whether or not the Bioko taxon and the nominate subspecies are taxonomically identical. Therefore, we tentatively retain the name cedrici for the Bioko population and downgrade it to subspecies rank: A. argillacea cedrici ( Herbulot, 1998) stat. n.

The male is unknown.

Distribution. The taxon is considered here as an insular subspecies of A. argillacea endemic to Bioko island.

Figures

FIGURES 41–60. Adults, dorsal view. 41. Afroracotis apodosima, HT of Racotis apodosima, ♁, Mozambique (NHMUK); 42. Ibidem, ♁, Tanzania (ZSM); 43. Ibidem, ♁, Zambia (ANHRT); 44. Ibidem, ♀, Mozambique (ANHRT); 45. A. dargei sp. n., HT, ♁, Cameroon (ZSM); 46. Ibidem, PT, ♁, Cameroon (ZSM); 47. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Cameroon (ZSM); 48. A. deportata, ♁, Madagascar (RCHS); 49. Ibidem, HT of Racotis deportata, ♁, Madagascar (MNHN); 50. Ibidem, ♀, Comoros (NHMUK); 51. A. argillacea argillacea, HT of Alcis argillacea, ♁, DRC (NHMUK); 52. Ibidem, ♁, DRC (NHMUK); 53. Ibidem, ♁, DRC (ZSM); 54. Ibidem, ♁, Cameroon (RCMO); 55. A. argillacea cedrici, HT of Racotis cedrici, ♀, Bioko (ZSM); 56. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Bioko (ZSM); 57. Ibidem, ♀, Bioko (RCTK); 58. A. argillacea morettoi ssp. n., HT, ♁, Ivory Coast (ANHRT); 59. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Ivory Coast (ANHRT); 60. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Ivory Coast (ZSM).

FIGURES 151–170. Adults, ventral view. 151. Afroracotis apodosima, ♁, Zambia (ANHRT); 152. Ibidem, ♀, Mozambique (ANHRT); 153. A. dargei sp. n., PT, ♁, Cameroon (ZSM); 154. Ibidem, ♀, Cameroon (ZSM); 155. A. deportata, ♁, Madagascar (RCHS); 156. Ibidem, ♀, Comoros (NHMUK); 157. A. argillacea argillacea, ♁, Cameroon (ZSM); 158. Ibidem, ♁, Cameroon (ZSM); 159. A. argillacea cedrici, HT of Racotis cedrici, ♀, Bioko (ZSM); 160. A. argillacea morettoi ssp. n., HT, ♁, Ivory Coast (ANHRT); 161. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Ivory Coast (ANHRT); 162. A. longicornuta sp. n., HT, ♁, Liberia (ANHRT); 163. Ibidem, PT, ♁, Guinea (ZSM); 164. A. l. congolana ssp. n., PT, ♁, Cameroon (ZSM); 165. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Cameroon (ZSM); 166. A. l. ugandana ssp. n., PT, ♀, Uganda (RCHS); 167. A. aristophanousi sp. n., HT, ♁, Liberia (ANHRT); 168. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Cameroon (ZSM); 169. A. muscivirens sp. n., HT, ♁, Liberia (ZSM); 170. Ibidem, PT, ♀, Liberia (ANHRT).

FIGURES 306–313. Female genitalia. 306. Afroracotis apodosima, Tanzania, slide No.: LG 4767 (ZSM); 307. Ibidem, Mozambique, slide No.: LG 4826 (ANHRT); 308. A. dargei sp. n., PT, Cameroon, slide No.: LG 4771 (ZSM); 309. A. deportata, Madagascar, slide No.: LG 4082 (ANHRT); 310. A. argillacea cedrici, PT, Bioko, slide No.: HERB 7255 (ZSM); 311. A. a. morettoi ssp. n., PT, Ivory Coast, slide No.: LG 5417 (ANHRT); 312. A. longicornuta congolana ssp. n., PT, Cameroon, slide No.: LG 5044 (ZSM); 313. A. l. ugandana ssp. n., PT, Uganda, gen. slide No.: LG 5531 (RCHS).