1 Introduction The Afrotropical region, encompassing sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, and adjacent Islands, is recognized for its extraordinary biodiversity and high levels of endemism, making it a hotspot for evolutionary research and a quagmire for taxonomic studies (Raven et al. 2020; Williams 2024). The geometrid moths are a prime example of this phenomenon, with c. 4000 of the c. 24,000 species described globally occurring the Afrotropical region (Rajaei et al. 2022; Scoble 1999).