Molecular phylogenetics and definition of the <i>Acrapex minima</i> Janse group (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Apameini, Sesamiina) with the description of four new species from the Afrotropics

Five morphologically similar species of <i>Acrapex</i> Hampson (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Apameini), from sub-Saharan Africa are reviewed, including four new species that are described: <i>Acrapex mondogeneta</i> Le Ru <b>n. sp</b>., <i>A. mubale</i> Le Ru <b>n. sp</b>., <i>A. robe</i> Le Ru <b>n. sp</b>. and <i>A. rubona</i> Le Ru <b>n. sp</b>. These five species belong to a species complex that we hereby define as the <i>Acrapex minima</i> group. Host plants of three species are recorded; <i>Acrapex minima</i> is recorded for the first time on a host plant, <i>Digitaria natalensis</i> Stent; <i>A. mondogeneta</i> on <i>Hyparrhenia hirta</i> (L.) Stapf and <i>A. rubona</i> on <i>Imperata cylindrica</i> (L.) P. Beauv. We also conducted molecular phylogenetics (using both Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood) and molecular species delimitation analyses (Poisson tree processes) on a six gene multi-marker dataset (four mitochondrial and two nuclear gene fragments; 4582 nucleotides in length) of 42 specimens and 22 species, including 23 specimens from the <i>Acrapex minima</i> group. The results of the corresponding analyses support the monophyly of the group and the species status of the newly described taxa.