Lukeniana carolae Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann, 2023

Lehmann, Ingo, Zahiri, Reza & Husemann, Martin, 2023, Revision of the Metarbelodes Strand, 1909 genus-group (Lepidoptera: Cossoidea: Metarbelidae) with descriptions of two new genera and 33 new species from high elevations of eastern and southern Africa, Zootaxa 5267 (1), pp. 1-106 : 50

Lukeniana carolae Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 8e , 14b

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:44D15AE3-4A80-4721-8B7F-41C67496F1F9

Type locality and repository: Malawi, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig , Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change ( LIB / ZFMK) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Malawi, Central Region, Ntchisi District, Mount Ntchisi, Ntchisi Forest Reserve , 1,560 m, 03–04 November 2012, R. J. Murphy leg., genitalia slide number 20/102013 I. Lehmann ( ZFMK).

Description. Male. Head: Ochre mixed with honey yellow, glossy; eyes black; antenna 0.43× length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 5.0× width of shaft, densely covered with ochre scales laterally, shaft with ochre scales dorsally; antennal tips not spatulate, densely scaled, bending towards apex; labial palpi honey-yellow, with few sepia scales dorsally.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long, honey-yellow, hair-like scales mixed with some ivory-yellow, glossy. A small ochre crest on metathorax. Hindlegs sepia mixed with fine hair-like scales of ochre, glossy; one pair of narrow tibial spurs of unequal length, outer spur ca. 1.2 mm, inner spur ca. 1.1 mm. Forewing length 15.0 mm (wingspan 34.0 mm). Forewing ground colour honey yellow in inner half, ochre in outer half; costal margin without striae of sepia; forewing with only few sepia striae instead of a subterminal line and a terminal line; sepia spots at ends of veins along termen; CuA 2 white, edged with broad band of sepia above; remaining veins not distinctly coloured; cilia long, 1.5 mm, ochre, shiny. Forewing underside roughly scaled near base of wing, pale ochre, glossy, costal margin ochre and honey yellow. Hindwing upperside ivory-yellow, glossy; cilia and underside as in forewing but costal margin not distinctly coloured.

Abdomen: Ochre mixed with ivory-yellow, glossy; abdominal tuft short, ca. 25% of abdomen length. Genitalia ( Fig. 14b ) with uncus lobes bearing broadly rounded tips, densely covered with long and short setae ventrally and dorsally, basal edge of uncus not bent at middle; gnathos arms long, slightly longer than basal width of valva; valva broadly ovoid and short, not longer than outer edge of one uncus lobe, with a broader base; costa with few short setae; sacculus very broad (one-third width of valva) with long setae near base of thorn-like process; weakly-sclerotized projection setose, with a rectangular tip, longer than single thick thorn-like process below; the latter hollow with a rounded tip bearing no setae in its upper half; median sector of valva with short setae on inner side forming three rows from base of valva towards an ovoid emargination; latter extending between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process, 35% of length of valva. Saccus smaller than juxta, narrow, finger-shaped with a broader base and a strong fold at middle. Juxta almost twice as large as saccus, broad with two acuminate tips, each bearing a short process at each tip, between tips a deep emargination (90% of length of juxta). Phallus slightly longer than width of valva, not trumpet-like, slightly bent near middle, bilobed with a cleft at each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. The genitalia of L. carolae are similar to those of L. mzuzuensis , sharing a short, thick thorn-like process that represents an extension of a very broad sacculus, at least as wide as one-third the width of the valva. The two species can be separated by the width of valva: unusually short in L. carolae , not as long as the outer edge of the uncus lobe; more elongate in L. mzuzuensis , 1.2× longer than the outer edge of the uncus lobe. The forewing upperside is honey yellow in L. carolae , and the entire forewing is without distinctly coloured striae, resembles that of L. georgeadamsoni ; in contrast to the forewing upperside of L. mzuzuensis . Lukeniana carolae can be distinguished by two unique characters: (i) the ends of the gnathos arms are not palmate and rounded, but is elongate, and shaped resembling half of a hand; (ii) the scale-like projections at the end of the gnathos arms are short, only half the usual length in other species. Additional remarkable character states are the juxta almost twice as large as the saccus; and the uncus densely covered with setae both ventrally and dorsally.

Distribution. Lukeniana carolae is known from Mount Ntchisi (also known as Nchisi) (elevation 1,645 m), located at the northeastern end of the Dowa Hills ( Malawi), which is part of a massive ridge running northeast to southwest close to the edge of the Western Branch of the EARS, ca. 32 km west of Lake Malawi and the Malawi Rift. It belongs to the Afromontane archipelago-like regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983), and L carolae is recognized as an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana carolae is named after the wildlife photographer Carol Cawthra Hopcraft. The first author is very grateful for many unforgettable months on the large game ranch owned by her and her husband, Dr. David Hopcraft, with the first experiences of Kenyan Lepidoptera and their free cheetah ‘Dooms’ on the Athi RiverKapiti Plains (cf. Hopcraft & Hopcraft 1997) during 1989 and 2002.

Figures

FIGURE 8. a. Lukeniana jankiellandi, holotype, male, Tanzania, Katavi Region, Luega village; b. L. bergsteni, paratype, male, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro Region, Mount Kilimanjaro, Kibonoto; c. L. bergsteni, paratype, male, Tanzania, Arusha Region, Usa River; d. L. bergsteni, paratype, female, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro Region, Mount Kilimanjaro, Kibonoto; e. L. carolae, holotype, male, Malawi, Central Region, Mount Ntchisi, Ntchisi Forest Reserve; f. L. stevecollinsi, holotype, male, Malawi, Northern Region, Nyika Plateau, Nyika National Park, near Thazima Gate.

FIGURE 14. a. Lukeniana bergsteni, paratype, male, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro Region, Mount Kilimanjaro, Kibonoto; b. L. carolae, holotype, male, Malawi, Central Region, Mount Ntchisi, Ntchisi Forest Reserve; c. L. stevecollinsi, holotype, male, Malawi, Northern Region, Nyika Plateau, Nyika National Park, near Thazima Gate; d. L. butleri, paratype, male, Zimbabwe, Harare Province, Harare, “Fawlty Towers”; e. L. kollhorsti, holotype, male, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Busi Farm; f. Zambezia diredaouaensis, holotype, male, Ethiopia, Harar Plateau, Dire Daua, today: chartered city of Dire Dawa.