<i>Drepanogynis insciata</i> (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875), a South African geometrid moth lost to science rediscovered after more than 140 years (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae).

ABSTRACT: The geometrid moth Drepanogynis insciata (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875) has been known only from two specimens in the Natural History Museum, London, UK: the holotype male collected before 1875 from South Africa, and a second male specimen without date and collecting locality data but probably collected before 1879. Unexpectedly, 13 specimens of this species-long considered lost to science-were observed in four locations between 2020 and 2023 in the Western Cape, near the type locality of the species. These observations were based on photographs available on iNaturalist, apart from a single male attracted to light, which was collected and vouchered for study from the Western Cape on 28 January 2022. We illustrate D. insciata and the newly collected specimen using both classical

SUBMITTER: Sihvonen P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12690384 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature