Updated phylogenetic and systematics of the <i>Acrapex albivena</i> Hampson, 1910 and <i>A. stygiata</i> (Hampson, 1910) species groups (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Apameini, Sesamiina), with the description of nine new species from the Afrotropics

The genus <i>Acrapex</i> Hampson, 1891 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Apameini, Sesamiina) constitutes a speciose group of noctuid stemborers mostly distributed in the Afrotropics. In this study nine new <i>Acrapex</i> species are described: <i>Acrapex abyssinica</i> <b>n. sp</b>., <i>Acrapex dabaga</i> <b>n. sp</b>., <i>Acrapex jansei</i> <b>n. sp</b>., <i>Acrapex kifanya</i> <b>n. sp</b>., <i>Acrapex lusinga</i> <b>n. sp</b>., <i>Acrapex ngwenya</i> <b>n. sp</b>., <i>Acrapex njombea</i> <b>n. sp</b>., <i>Acrapex vetiveria</i> <b>n. sp</b>. and <i>Acrapex zima</i> <b>n. sp</b>. All species are assigned to the <i>A. albivena</i> group with the exception of <i>A. lusinga</i> which is assigned to the <i>A. stygiata</i> group. We also provide supplemental descriptions for two previously described species of the <i>A. albivena</i> group, <i>A. punctosa</i> Berio, 1973 and <i>A. sysciodes</i>, Berio, 1973, and for one species belonging to the <i>A. stygiata</i> group: <i>A. brunneella</i> Le Ru, 2014. Host plants of three species are recorded; <i>A. brunneella</i> and <i>Acrapex jansei</i> were reared on <i>Cymbopogon pospischilii</i> (K. Schum.) C. E. Hubb and <i>A. vetiveria</i> on <i>Chrysopogon zizanioides</i> (L.). We also conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses (using both Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood) on a multi-marker (four mitochondrial and two nuclear genes) molecular dataset encompassing 138 specimens (including 98 specimens from the <i>A. albivena</i> group and 23 specimens from the <i>A. stygiata</i> group) from 48 stemborer species. The results of the corresponding analyses support the monophyly of the two groups of interest and the species status of all newly described taxa, except for <i>A. lusinga</i> that was not sequenced. The phylogenetic analyses also unravel several evolutionary lineages whose precise status is pending because their DNA was extracted from larval stages.