130 years from discovery to description: micro-CT scanning applied to construct the integrative taxonomy of a forgotten moth from Southern Africa (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)

X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) of dried and pinned museum specimenscombined with advanced image processing can provide a useful, novel and non-destructive tool for integrative insect taxonomy. This paper demonstrates how micro-CTcan be applied to provide unambiguous illustrations of diagnostic morphological charac-ters for new taxa description and to understand how micro-CT imaging may complementother imaging techniques. Following micro-CT scanning, a semi-automatic segmentationand volume rendering protocol was used to portray the wing venation and diagnosticstructures and ornamentation of male genitalia from multiple angles. Using micro-CTimages, we provide the description of a conspicuous geometrid moth from southernAfrica (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), which has been present in collections since 1894, butleft without an available name. Using a multigenetic dataset comprising 273 terminaltaxa from the superfamily Geometroidea, we constructed a molecular phylogeny to placeour study species to an isolated lineage in Geometridae: Larentiinae, tribe Xanthorhoinisensu lato. We describe it asChloecolora vergetarianew genus, new species Englund &Staude, and provide diverse ecological information on its distribution, habitat, host plant,adult and immature stages, and parasites. We found micro-CT imaging particularly usefulin two- and three-dimensional imaging of wings, providing detailed information forinstance on non-tubular folds that may be difficult to distinguish using other techniques