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

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