Kuwahara (1984) synonymized Metzgeria madagassa Steph. and Metzgeria thomeensis Steph. under the name Metzgeria australis Steph. So (2004) rejected this synonymy and recognized Metzgeria madagassa from Africa (excluding the syntype from Sikkim) with Metzgeria warnstorffii Steph., Metzgeria camerunensis Steph. and Metzgeria limbatosetosa Steph. as synonyms. Her treatment has generally been followed by subsequent authors of African Metzgeria. However, she overlooked the fact that Metzgeria warnstorffii is the oldest valid name.
Formal treatment
Metzgeria warnstorffii Steph. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 20(3): 305, 1895 (Stephani 1895).
Lectotype (So 2004): Cameroun, Yumbo, 1080 m, P. Dusén 652, 17 Apr 1892, FH as M. camerunensis; isolectotypes: BM, FI.
= Metzgeria madagassa Steph. Bull. Herb. Boissier 7(12): 944. 1899 (Stephani 1899), syn. in So (2004). Lectotype (Kuwahara 1984: 35): Madagascar, Besson s.n., herb. F. Renauld 292, G 11768 (= G00046681, www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/chg/adetail.php?id=141419&lang=en; isolectotype: FH as M. renauldii). ≡ Metzgeria madagassa Kiaer, Forh. Vidensk.-Selsk. Kristiania 1892 (14): 4, 1892 (Pearson 1893), nom. inval. (ICN2018 Art. 38.1(a); no description).
= Metzgeria camerunensis Steph. Bull. Herb. Boissier 7(12): 945. 1899 (Stephani 1899), syn. with Metzgeria madagassa in So (2004). Lectotype (here designated, cf. So 2004 as ‘holotype’): ‘Cameroun, Prope Ekundu pagum, on trees, ca 300 m, P. Dusén 106, 29 Oct 1890, G 12824 (= G00045399, www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/chg/adetail.php?id=141413&lang=en); isotype: G as M. hamata’.
Note: So's ‘holotype’ is too late to take as an inadvertent lectotypification. We here formally lectotypify the name with the same specimen as selected by So.
= Metzgeria limbatosetosa Steph. Wiss. Ergebn. Deut. Zentr.-Afr. Exped. (1907–1908), Bot. 2: 111. 1911 (Stephani 1911), syn. with Metzgeria madagassa in So (2004). Lectotype (here designated, cf. So 2004 as ‘holotype’): Rwanda, Rugege-Wald, Kiwu See, 1900 m, Mildbraed 844, 1907, G 001067 (= G00045402, www.villege.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/chg/adetail.php?id=141418&lang=en).