Syllepte Huebner , 1823

Mally, Richard, Korycinska, Anastasia, Agassiz, David J. L., Hall, Jayne, Hodgetts, Jennifer & Nuss, Matthias, 2015, Discovery of an unknown diversity of Leucinodes species damaging Solanaceae fruits in sub-Saharan Africa and moving in trade (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Pyraloidea), ZooKeys 472, pp. 117-162 : 144

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Crambidae

Syllepte Huebner, 1823

Syllepte Hübner, 1823. Type species: Syllepte incomptalis Hübner, 1823.

Syllepte hemichionalis (Mabille, 1900), comb. rev. ( Sylepta [sic]). Type locality: Madagascar, baie d’Antongil

Syllepte hemichionalis idalis Viette, 1958, comb. rev. ( Syllepta [sic]). Type locality: Comoros, Mohéli.

Syllepte vagans (Tutt, 1890), comb. n. ( Aphytoceros ). Type locality: Great Britain, Chepstow.

Aphytoceros longipalpis Warren, 1892 (synonymised by South 1897). Type locality. South Africa, Transvaal.

Material examined.

Types: Holotype hemichionalis ♂ [red label] “TYPE”, [pale green label] "MUSEUM PARIS | MADAGASCAR | BAIE D’ANTONGIL | A. MOCQUERYS 1898", [whitish handwritten label] " Sylepta | hemichionalis Mab. | Ann.Soc.Ent.Fr. | 1899 p. 745.", [whitish handwritten label] " Sylepta | hemichionalis | Mab." (MNHN); Holotype subsp. idalis ♂ [red label] “TYPE”, [white label] "COMORES | MOHÉLI XI– 1955 | A. ROBINSON", [white handwritten label] "[underlined] Sylepta ♂ | [underlined] hemichionalis | [underlined] idalis n. subsp. | Holotype [underlined] P.Viette" (MNHN); Holotype syn. longipalpis ♀ [circular label with red border] “Type”, [white label] "Transvaal | 91 –21” (BMNH). The whereabouts of the type specimen of vagans Tutt, 1890 are not known.

Remarks.

Syllepte hemichionalis and Syllepte vagans are similar to each other in wing pattern elements, the presence of two frenular bristles in the female hindwings and features of male genitalia (see Suppl. material 2I), but not so to Leucinodes . Their wing pattern differs from Leucinodes in the following: forewing without the L-shaped or triangular spot at central dorsum of Leucinodes and without the half moon-shaped subapical patch; postmedian line broad, straight, but with long loop before dorsum, reaching to central part of forewing; dorsum with broad brown line leading from brown antemedian area to distal end of postmedian line; in the hindwing they have a comma- or V-shaped distal discoidal sigma, light brown with dark brown border. This homologous wing pattern is also found in Syllepte chalybifascia Hampson, 1896 from India and Syllepte dottoalis Schaus, 1927 from the Philippines, and we consider them congeneric with each other as well as with Syllepte hemichionalis and Syllepte vagans . The genus Syllepte comprises 193 species ( Nuss et al. 2003-2014), is probably polyphyletic and in need for taxonomic revision.