A review of the genus Sciomesa (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Apameini: Sesamiina) with the description of 12 new species, and new insights from morphological, ecological and molecular data

In this study, the genus Sciomesa Tams & Bowden, 1953 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Noctuinae: Apameini: Sesamiina) is reviewed. Based on the examination, 12 new species are hereby described: S. lalokeli n. sp. and S. metiminko n. sp. from Ethiopia; S. elgonensis n. sp., S. nigra n. sp. and S. simillima n. sp. from Kenya; S. umvoti n. sp. from the Republic of South Africa; S. iboya n. sp., S. lilomwi n. sp., S. makete n. sp., S. njombe n. sp. and S. tanganyika n. sp. from Tanzania; S. kalinzu n. sp. from Uganda. We propose to re-establish as valid species S. constantini, S. etchecopari and S. mirifica, which were synonymized with S. mesophaea by Moyal et al. (2010) . Similarly, we propose to re-establish S. minuscula which was synonymized with S. boulardi by Moyal et al. (2010) as a good species and we synonymize S. congitae, which was synonymized with S. boulardi by Moyal et al. (2010), as a synonym of S. minuscula. Sciomesa franciscae is synonymized with S. mesophaea and Sesamia punctipennis transferred to the Sciomesa genus by Moyal et al. (2010) is temporarily removed from the genus Sciomesa pending a new combination. We also provide a supplemental description of the previously described species: S. boulardi (Laporte, 1984), S. bua Moyal et al., 2010, S. constantini Laporte, 1984, S. etchecopari Laporte, 1975, S. excelsa (Laporte, 1976), S. gnosia Moyal et al., 2010, S. mesophaea (Hampson, 1910), S. minuscula (Laporte, 1991), S. mirifica Laporte, 1984, S. renibifida Berio, 1973, S. scotochroa (Hampson, 1914) and S. venata Fletcher, 1961. Host plant records are provided for eight species.