Pericyma mendax ( Walker, 1858b )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 349-350

Pericyma mendax ( Walker, 1858b)

COMMON NAME (S): Brown Shades. SYNONYM(S): Dugaria cilipes Walker, 1858b ; Homoptera delineosa Walker, 1858d ; Homoptera disjuncta Walker, 1865c ; Homoptera scandulata Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874 ; Homoptera lignicolora Strand, 1912c ; Pericyma polygramma Hampson,

1913b.

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia , Nigeria, Oman, Republic of Congo,

Réunion, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan,

Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: ‘Lusaka’, in Lusaka Province. LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): The Fabaceae species, Acacia mearnsii , is a host plant of the taxon in the Réunion ( Martiré & Rochat 2008), while another Fabaceae species yet to be identified i.e. Acacia sp. is indicated as a host plant in unnamed African country or countries ( Pinhey 1975). In addition to this, the African Moths (2019)

webpage reports a yet to be identified Rutaceae species, namely, Citrus sp. , and the following four

Fabaceae species, Senegalia caffra (Thunb.) P.J.H.Hurter & Mabb. , Vachellia karroo (Hayne) Banfi

& Galasso, Acacia sassa (Willd.) Baillon ex Drake and V. sieberiana (DC.) Kyal. & Boatwr. , as larval foodplants of the taxon.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022.

Genus Plecopterodes Hampson, 1913a