Semalea corvinus (Mabille, 1890)

Zhang, Jing, Cong, Qian, Shen, Jinhui, Song, Leina & Grishin, Nick V., 2023, Butterfly classification and species discovery using genomics, The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey 11 (3), pp. 1-94 : 75

Semalea corvinus (Mabille, 1890) is a species distinct from Semalea sextilis (Plötz, 1886)

Genomic sequencing of Cobalus corvinus Mabille, 1890 (type locality in Sierra Leone, type sequenced as NVG-18075A05) currently treated as a junior subjective synonym of Semalea sextilis (Plötz, 1886) (type locality in Ghana) reveals that it is not monophyletic with it and instead originates deep in the radiation of Semalea Holland, 1896 (type species Hesperia pulvina Plötz, 1879 ) ( Figs. 45, 46). Therefore, we reinstate Semalea corvinus (Mabille, 1890) , stat. rest. as a species-level taxon.