Acrocercops Wallengren, 1881

Triberti, Paolo, Staude, Hermann, Sharp, Ian & Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, 2024, Exploring the diversity of Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera) in South Africa: host plants, distribution, and DNA barcoding analysis, with the description of nine new species, Zootaxa 5529 (1), pp. 1-51 : 16

Acrocercops Wallengren, 1881

Vári (1961) noted that the genus Acrocercops includes species with diverse wing patterns, venation and genitalia. He identified 17 species in South Africa, primarily based on wing venation. However, none of these species have genitalia that match the type species A. brongniardella (Fabricius, 1798) . Kumata et al. (1988a), who studied the Japanese Acrocercops fauna, suggested that all these species must be transferred to other genera. They also described several distinguishing characteristics of Acrocercops species, such as tufted scales on the second segment of the labial palpus, simple scape on the antenna without pecten or tuft, and specific vein arrangements on the forewing. Additionally, they highlighted the presence of a long comb on the inner surface of the male genitalia and a pair of signa surrounded by lanceolate sclerites in the female genitalia. Kumata et al. (1988a) further emphasized that the long valval comb and the signa with radiating lanceolate sclerites are particularly noteworthy. Based on these findings, it is unlikely that any known South African species should be classified as Acrocercops , and new genera are likely needed. However, given the current state of our knowledge of the Afrotropical Acrocercopinae, it is advisable to refrain from establishing new supraspecific taxa. As a result, the following two species will remain in their current positions until a revision of this subfamily is conducted. Sruoga & De Prins (2023) described 12 species of Acrocercopinae from Sub-Saharan Africa but did not encounter any of the problematic species, except for Acrocercops terminalina , which was moved from Acrocercops to Cryptolectica .