Thirteen moth species (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Noctuidae) newly recorded in South Africa, with comments on their distribution

Abstract Background Thanks to the high diversity of ecosystems and habitats, South Africa harbours tremendous diversity of insects. The Kruger National Park, due to its position close to the border between two biogeographic regions and high heterogeneity of environmental conditions, represents an insufficiently studied hotspot of lepidopteran diversity. During our ecological research in the Kruger National Park, we collected abundant moth material, including several interesting faunistic records reported in this study. New information We reported 13 species of moths which had not yet been recorded in South Africa. In many cases, our records represented an important extension of the species’ known distribution, including two species (Ozarbagaedei and O.persinua) whose distribution ranges extended into the Zambezian biogeographic region. Such findings confirmed the poor regional knowledge of lepidopteran diversity.


Introduction
South Africa offers an extraordinarily heterogeneous land area, hosting nine terrestrial biomes, including deserts, rich Mediterranean vegetation and various savannahs and forests (Mucina and Rutherford 2006). Located in the country's north-eastern corner, the Kruger National Park (KNP) represents one of the largest African protected areas and one of the oldest national parks in the continent (Joubert 1986). It covers unusually heterogeneous savannah habitats from subtropical and tropical zones in its southern and northern parts, respectively. The 11 described land systems (defined by a combination of climate, geological conditions, altitude and vegetation character; Venter et al. 2003) belong to the Zambezian region, although some of them closely border with the Southern African region (Linder et al. 2012).
KNP hosts tremendous diversity of many taxonomic groups, including insects (Braack and Kryger 2003, Mawdsley et al. 2016, D'Souza et al. 2021. Even though KNP belongs to one of the South African areas with the greatest amount of moth distribution records (Mecenero et al. 2020), the knowledge on the Lepidoptera diversity still remains strongly insufficient. Our recent sampling of moths in a range of savannah habitats of KNP yielded more than 60,000 captured individuals. Amongst these, we identified 13 moth species recorded for the first time in South Africa. Here, we present the sampled material for these species, with remarks on their distribution.

Materials and methods
All reported moth specimens were collected in the Kruger National Park, South Africa from November 2018 until March 2020, as a part of the MOSAIK project (Monitoring Savannah Biodiversity in the Kruger National Park) focused on exploring biodiversity patterns of plants and animals in various environmental settings of the savannah ecosystem (Pyšek et al. 2020, Hejda et al. 2022). Our sampling was performed at 60 plots at four main land systems (Skukuza, Satara, Phalaborwa and Letaba) between the Crocodile River in the south up to Punda Maria in the north (see Hejda et al. (2022) for the location of all plots). The plots were set up to cover three habitats with different levels of water availability and large herbivore disturbances (perennial rivers, seasonal rivers and crests with no availability of water; Fig. 1). Each plot was sampled during early (November) and late (February-March) wet seasons.
Moths were attracted and collected by portable light traps consisting of a two-sided strip of 48 LEDs emitting UV light and powered by 12V batteries (Delabye et al. 2020). Thirteen moth species (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Noctuidae) newly recorded ... specimens were anaesthetised by ammonium hydrogen carbonate inside the traps. In the collected moth material, we focused on twelve moth families: Erebidae, Eutellidae, Noctuidae, Nolidae, Notodontidae, Eupterotidae, Lasiocampidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Geometridae, Thyrididae and Limacodidae. We identified all specimens of the focal families, based mostly on external morphology and/or genitalia dissections, using various available literature and online resources and the exhaustive Lepidoptera collection in the Nature Education Centre, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. The identification of all species reported here as the new country records were always confirmed by genitalia dissection, the reference literature being referred in comments to particular species.
The known distribution of individual species followed a combination of Hacker (2016), Hacker (2019) (2019) suggested that only Eublemma caffrorum (Wallengern, 1860) occurs in southern Africa. However, genitalia examination of our specimens clearly revealed that both species co-occur in KNP. Both species are barely morphologically distinguishable, which could have explained that E. accedens was overlooked in southern Africa. Thus, our record extended the southern border of the species' known distribution range in the continent by over 1,000 km (Fig. 2). Nevertheless, we suppose it could have been overlooked because it is distinguishable only by genitalia dissection (Hacker 2019

Description
The identification was based on Hacker (2019).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. It was already known from several countries in the Guinean (Burkina Faso, Nigeria), Somalian (Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya), Zambezian and Southern African biogeographical regions, including Zimbabwe bordering with South Africa (Hacker 2019). Its occurrence in KNP is, therefore, not surprising (Fig. 3).

Description
The identification was mainly based on Hacker (2016) and on photographs in De Prins and De Prins (2022).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. The known distribution of this species already included the Zambezian (Tanzania and Zimbabwe), Somalian (Kenya) and Southern African (Namibia) biogeographic regions (Hacker 2016, De Prins andDe Prins 2022). The extension of its known distribution to KNP is not surprising (Fig. 4).

Description
The identification was based on Hacker (2016).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. The species was already known from the Zambezian (Tanzania) and Southern African (Namibia) biogeographic regions (Mey 2011, Hacker 2016. Nevertheless, our records substantially extended its known distribution (Fig. 6).

Description
The identification was based on Hacker (2016).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. So far, this species has been known only from East Africa: the Somalian region (Ethiopia and Kenya) and the Zambezian region (Tanzania; Hacker 2016, De Prins andDe Prins 2022). Therefore, our record extended its known distribution range for over 1,000 km southwards (Fig. 7).

Description
The identification was based on Hacker (2016).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. This species was known only from Eastern Africa: the Somalian (Ethiopia and Kenya), Shaba (Uganda) and Zambezian (Tanzania) biogeographical regions (Hacker 2016, De Prins andDe Prins 2022). Therefore, our record extended its known distribution for over 1,000 km southwards (Fig. 8).

Description
The identification was based on Hacker (2016).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. It was known from several countries in equatorial Africa (including Tanzania in the Zambezian biogeographic region) and Madagascar (Hacker 2016, De Prins andDe Prins 2022). Therefore, the reported distribution in KNP extended the species' known distribution on the continent for over 1,000 km southwards (Fig. 9).

Description
The identification was based on Hacker (2016).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. Previously, it was considered as endemic to Namibia (Hacker 2016, De Prins andDe Prins 2022). Our records extended its distribution range for almost 2,000 km eastwards, into the Zambezian biogeographical region (Fig. 10).

Distribution
We report this species for the first time in South Africa. It was previously known from several countries in Eastern Africa (including Tanzania in the Zambezian biogeographic region; (Hacker 2016, De Prins andDe Prins 2022). Our South African record thus extended its distribution for over 1,000 km southwards (Fig. 12).

Description
The identification was based on Hacker (2016).

Distribution
The three reported individuals represent the first record of O. negrottoi in South Africa. This species was previously known only from the Somalian (Somalia) and Zambezian (Tanzania) regions (Hacker 2016, De Prins andDe Prins 2022). We extended its known distribution for over 1,000 km southwards (Fig. 13).  (De Prins and De Prins 2022), the nearest known localities of eight of them were in Tanzania, i.e. over 1,000 km north of KNP. Only three reported species were already known from Zimbabwe, the country bordering KNP and their occurrence in South Africa could, therefore, be expected.

Ozarba persinua
The new distributional records of moth species in KNP evidenced the poor knowledge on the lepidopteran fauna of the Afrotropical savannah ecosystems (Delabye et al. 2020, Mecenero et al. 2020. For most of the reported species, we extended the known distribution for over 1,000 km. As the ecosystems between KNP and the nearest reported localities of these species in Tanzania and/or Namibia include various types of savannahs ( Mucina andRutherford 2006, Delabye et al. 2020), we can assume that populations of at least some of these moths are being overlooked. This can be expected especially for the species which we report as relatively abundant in KNP (e.g. E. accedens, O. atrisigna, O. persinua). Therefore, we suggest an intensive survey of lepidopteran diversity in South Africa with results published even in small reports is crucial for improving our knowledge on the diversity of Afrotropical Lepidoptera.