Lukeniana kollhorsti 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 : 54-55

Lukeniana kollhorsti Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 2c , 14e urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:47C62665-A2E0-4F2C-9B74-723DFCA6D734

Type locality and repository: Zimbabwe, the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo ( NMZB) .

Material examined. Holotype male, South Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), Busi Farm (20°15′50.04″S, 32°40′13.44′′E), Chipinga (= misspelling of Chipinge , today in Chipinge District , Manicaland Province), November 1978, D. Townley leg., National Museum South Rhodesia; on second label: “Access No. NMZ 4481”; on third label: genitalia slide number 06/082015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB) . Paratype male, South Rhodesia, same locality, October–November 1977, D. Townley leg., National Museum South Rhodesia; on second label: “Access No. NMZ 4480”; genitalia dissection not done since the paratype has no abdomen .

Description. Male. Head: Cream mixed with sepia, shiny; long, cream, hair-like scales between eyes; eyes olive with small black patches; antenna 0.52× length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 5.5× width of shaft, shaft covered with pale cream scales dorsally, branches covered with cream scales laterally; antennal tips not spatulate and with slightly longer scales, bending towards apex; labial palpi cream.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with shiny cream, long, hair-like scales mixed with sepia. A crest metathorax with long cream scales with sepia tips. Hind legs yellow-ochre with fine, shiny hair-like scales; one pair of narrow tibial spurs present, outer spur in holotype 1.0 mm long, inner spur 0.8 mm; in paratype outer spur 0.9 mm, inner spur 0.7 mm. Forewing length of holotype 12.5 mm (wingspan 27.5 mm), of paratype 13.5 mm, (wingspan 30.0 mm). Forewing upperside cream, glossy towards termen; terminal line and subterminal line sepia, parallel to termen from near apex to CuA 2, slightly bent; CuA 2 white, broad, twice as broad as sepia-coloured line above; a few sepia striae along cream-coloured costa and on entire upperside; veins not distinctly coloured except CuA 2; cilia long, 1.1 mm, shiny cream and white; small sepia lunules faint along termen. Underside of forewing rough-scaled, pale cream, glossy, costal margin ochre with few sepia striae. Hindwing upperside white, glossy, cilia cream mixed with white, glossy; underside as in forewing but lacking striae; costa ochre.

Abdomen: Ochre mixed with white and sepia, glossy; abdominal tuft short and less than one-fifth abdominal length. Genitalia ( Fig. 14e ) with uncus lobes rounded distally, slightly pointed, outer edge of uncus lobe very long, namely longer than space between basal edge of uncus and lower base of gnathos arms, uncus with long and short setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus bent, crescent-like at middle; gnathos arms broad, short, half as long as basal edge of uncus, hand-like structures of gnathos arms connected by a thin membrane ventrally; valva broad, nearly rectangular, costa broad with few setae; sacculus very broad (one-third of width of valva) with few short and long setae; weakly-sclerotized projection densely setose with shorter setae and rounded tip longer than single long thornlike process below; latter not extending beyond costa, hollow, strongly bent with an acuminate tip with few tiny setae, base of thorn-like process with broad open dorsal slit with weakly-sclerotized projection slightly attached; median sector of valva with few setae on inner side; a round emargination long (40% of length of valva) extending between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process. Saccus short, finger-shaped. Juxta twice as large as saccus with acuminate tips, between tips a deep emargination (90% of length of juxta). Phallus shorter than width of valva, trumpet-like, slightly bilobed with a cleft at each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Two characters in the male genitalia of L. kollhorsti are shared with Metarbelodes umtaliana . In both species the thorn-like process has an open, long dorsal slit at its base, where it is slightly connected by a thin membrane with the weakly-sclerotized projection and the basal edge of the uncus with crescent-shaped bend at the middle. Nevertheless, L. kollhorsti is placed in Lukeniana on the basis of the following: CuP is not continuous, representing a weak fold; thorn-like process well developed and bent upward from the ventral edge of valva; and sacculus very broad and well developed. The genitalia of L. kollhorsti have two diagnostic characters: the outer edge of the uncus lobe is longer than the length of the tegumen viewed ventrally and hence, is longest in the genus (in all other species the tegumen is longer than the outer edge of the uncus lobe); and (ii) the valva is short, broad, and smaller than the entire uncus.

Distribution. Lukeniana kollhorsti is known from Busi Farm (southeastern Zimbabwe), located ca. 8 km southeast of Chipinge and ca. 19 km north from Chirinda Forest. The area belongs to the Zambezian regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983), and in the 1990s it was generally used for commercial agriculture with coffee and macadamia nut plantations. Lukeniana kollhorsti is classified an Afromontane linking species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana kollhorsti is named in honour of Christian Kollhorst (Hamburg; born in 1993 in Sulingen), who has produced the excellent plates presented herein.

Figures

FIGURE 2. a. Lukeniana butleri, paratype, male, Zimbabwe, Harare Province, Harare, “Fawlty Towers”; b. L. butleri, paratype, female, Zimbabwe, Harare Province, Harare, “Fawlty Towers”; c. L. kollhorsti, holotype, male, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Busi Farm; d. Zambezia diredaouaensis, holotype, male, Ethiopia, Harar Plateau, Dire Daua, today: chartered city of Dire Dawa; e. Z. madambae, holotype, male, Botswana, Chobe District Council, Kasane, Chobe River, Chobe Rapids; f. Z. madambae, paratype, female, Botswana, Chobe District Council, Kasane, Chobe River, Chobe Rapids.

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.