Accepted by M. Pellinen: 13 Oct. 2015; published: 3 Dec. 2015 ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Copyright © 2015 Magnolia Press Zootaxa 4052 (2): 251–296 www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Article 251 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4052.3.1 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:775796D2-BEDF-459B-B937-FAC0EC457B92 Contribution to the knowledge on the Palaearctic and Oriental taxa of the Meganola s.l. (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea, Nolidae, Nolinae) generic complex with descriptions of 4 new genera and 11 new species GYULA M. LÁSZLÓ 1,4 , GÁBOR RONKAY 2 & LÁSZLÓ RONKAY 3 1 Fadrusz u. 25, H-1114 Budapest, Hungary. 2 Heterocera Press Ltd., Szt. István krt. 4, H-1137 Budapest, Hungary. 3 Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, Baross u. 13, H-1088 Budapest, Hungary. 4 Corresponding author. E-mail: gyula.m.laszlo@gmail.com Abstract Present paper contains the descriptions of four new genera distinguished from the collecting genus Meganola s.l. (Hamp- sonola, Wittonola, Fragilonola and Maculonola gen. n.) and 11 new species (Meganola pseudobasalactifera, Hampsono- la diehli, H. subbasirufa, H. angustifasciata, H. stueningi, H. micra, Wittonola latifasciata, Nanola rothschildi, Fragilonola fragilis, F. parentela and Maculonola dolokmerangirensis spp. n.) from South East Asia. Based on genital morphology the concept of the genus Nanola is extended, involving several species treated earlier as Meganola. Meganola yakovlevi László, Ronkay & Ronkay, 2010 is synonymised with M. tetrodon (de Joannis, 1928), and M. pekarskyi László, Ronkay & Ronkay, 2014 is synonymised with Nanola liaoningensis (Han & Li, 2008), syn. n. 45 new combinations and 2 new stati are established. With 48 colour photos and 42 genitalia figures. Key words: Meganola, Nanola, Nolini, Nolinae, Nolidae, Noctuoidea, taxonomy, new genera, new species, new synon- ymy, new combination, new status, South East Asia Introduction The genus Meganola was established by Dyar (1898) for a Nearctic species Meganola conspicua Dyar, 1898. The generic name has been introduced for the Old World fauna by Poole (1989) who applied it for practically all taxa previously treated by authors as Roeselia Hübner, 1825 except e.g. Sarbena Walker, 1862 and Proneca Swinhoe, 1890, which were considered by Poole as distinct genera. It is worth to note that Roeselia is synonymous with Nola Leach, 1815 due to its unfortunate type-species designation. Grote choose Phalaena Tinea cucullatella Linnaeus, 1758 as type-species of Roeselia, since the type-species of Nola is, by monotypy, Phalaena Noctua palliola [Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775. As these two names refer to the same species, both genera have the common type-species, therefore Roeselia is a mere synonym of Nola. The delineation of this major genus has long been problematic, lacking a proper and consistent generic diagnosis. The quadrifine hindwing venation has long been deemed as a distinctive morphological character of Meganola (s.l.), but this concept produced an undoubtedly paraphyletic assemblage. Holloway (2003) clarified first the taxonomic position of the (otherwise also extraordinarily species rich) genus Manoba, correcting the erroneous traditional treatment of the group which considered Manoba as synonymous with the lithosiine genus Stictane Hampson, 1900, and restored its status as a valid noline genus based on the trifine hindwing venation as main diagnostic character besides the characteristic configuration of the genitalia. The species belonging to the other large branches of this generic complex remained, however, in the paraphyletic and diverse generic unit of Meganola (s.l.). It is worth to note that concerning the hindwing venation of the Meganola complex some discrepancies between publications of several authors have been found. Holloway (2003) divided Meganola and Manoba based on the quadrifine hindwing venation (with M 3 and CuA 1 stalked) of the former and trifine one (with