Molecular phylogeny of the genus Tamsita Kiriakoff, 1954 (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) unveils its systematic position and cryptic diversity in East Africa

The Afrotropical genus Tamsita Kiriakoff, 1954 (Erebidae) currently comprises only two recognized species, occurring in East Africa. Here, we shed light on the diversity of these moths using an integrative approach based on the combination of morphological characters and molecular data. For the reconstruction of the molecular phylogeny, we used mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) and nuclear wingless (Wg) markers. The results of the phylogenetic analyses place the genus Tamsita in the subfamily Arctiinae, in contrast to its previous assignment to Lymantriinae, and reveal the existence of seven species, five of which are herein described, Tamsita kivuana sp. nov., T. barnsi sp. nov., T. vulcanicola sp. nov., T. udzungwana sp. nov. and T. smithi sp. nov. Furthermore, we found a deep split between the clusters of T. ochthoeba and T. habrotima, to which all five newly discovered species belonged. Our results also indicate clear genetic separation among all recovered species and a high level of endemicity. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:07E34AFD-A443-4D2F-8057-A088C50B5912