Hypena simplicalis Zeller, 1852

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 358

Hypena simplicalis Zeller, 1852

COMMON NAME (S): Hypenine moth.

SYNONYM(S): Hypena obacerralis Walker, 1859a ; Hypena longipalpalis Guenée, 1862 ; Hypena ferriscitalis Walker, 1866a ; Hypena comes Butler, 1882a ; Hypena sordida Rothschild, 1921a .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia , Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Republic of Congo, Réunion, Saint Helena / Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Susan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: ‘Lusaka’, in Lusaka Province.

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): A Commelinaceae plant species namely, Commelina benghalensis and a Lamiaceae plant species, namely, Ocimum basilicum are host plants of the taxon in the Réunion ( Bippus, 2018), while another Commelinaceae plant species, namely Commelina pacifica , is a host plant of the taxon in Fiji (L̂dl 1994). No host plants of the taxon are known in Zambia.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; L̂dl 1994.