Lukeniana butleri 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 : 53-54

Lukeniana butleri Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 2a, 2b , 14d , 15d

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C45902CD-B165-471F-924E-954B31D58C8B

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

Material examined. Holotype male, Zimbabwe, Harare (Harare District, Harare Province), private garden in Highlands suburb ( North-Eastern Region ), called “Fawlty Towers”, 03 September 2013, R. Butler leg., genitalia slide number 05/042014 I. Lehmann ( ZFMK).

Paratypes: one male, same locality, date, and collector, no genitalia dissection done ( ZFMK) ; one male same locality, 16 September 2014, R . Butler leg., genitalia slide number 13/062015 I. Lehmann ( ZFMK) ; one male same locality, 18 September 2014, R . Butler leg., genitalia slide number 02/082015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB) ; one male, S. Rhodesia, Marandellas (today Marondera, Marondera District , Mashonaland East Province), October 1961, no collector mentioned on label, “Nat. Museum S. Rhodesia ”, “Access. No. 4475”, genitalia slide number 05/092015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB); one male, South Rhodesia, Salisbury (today Harare), 06 October 1966, A. J. Duke leg., on a second label “Access. No. NMZ 4462”, genitalia slide number 27/102015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB); one male, South Rhodesia, Salisbury (today Harare), 08 October 1967, A. J. Duke leg., on a second label “Access. No. NMZ 4463”, genitalia slide number 31/052015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB) ; one female, same locality as holotype, 12 September 2012, R . Butler leg., genitalia slide number 27/022014 I. Lehmann ( ZFMK) ; one female, same locality as holotype, 01 October 2014, R . Butler leg., genitalia slide number 16/052015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB) ; one female, South Rhodesia, Salisbury , 29 September 1966, A. J. Duke leg., on a second label “Access. No. NMZ 4483”, genitalia slide number 08/062015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB); one female, South Rhodesia, Gatooma (now Kadoma, Kadoma District, Mashonaland West Province), January 1957, no collector mentioned, “Nat.Mus. Bulawayo ”, on second label “Access. No. NMZ 4487”, genitalia slide number 04/102015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB) .

Description. Male. Head: Light cream, shiny, with long hair-like scales between eyes; eyes black; antenna 0.50× length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 4.5× width of shaft, shaft covered with light cream scales dorsally, branches covered with white or cream scales laterally, antennal tips with long scales, bending towards apex; labial palpi cream.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long hair-like scales of cream mixed with white and sepia, not shiny. A small crest of cream on metathorax. Hindlegs yellow ochre with fine hair-like scales and shiny; one pair of narrow tibial spurs present, outer spur in holotype 0.9 mm long, inner spur 0.8 mm. Forewing length of holotype 10.0 mm (wingspan 22.5 mm), paratypes 9.0‒12.0 mm, (wingspan 21.5–28.0 mm). Forewing upperside cream and pale ochre, not glossy; in male holotype terminal line and subterminal line dark cream and parallel to termen, from near apex to dorsum, not bent; CuA 2 pure white, broad, edged sepia above; only few striae of sepia along cream-coloured costa and on entire upperside; veins not distinctly coloured except CuA 2; cilia long, 1.3 mm, cream and white, shiny; lunules sepia along termen. Underside of forewing roughly scaled, cream, glossy, rarely costal margin with few sepia striae and subterminal line; costa honey-yellow. Hindwing upperside and cilia cream mixed with white, glossy; underside as in forewing but without striae, costa usually not darker.

Abdomen: Cream mixed with white, glossy; abdominal tuft short, less than one-fifth of abdomen length. Genitalia ( Figs 14d ; 15d ) with uncus lobes bearing rounded tips, long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus not bent at middle, almost straight; gnathos arms with short, broad end; valvae broadly ovoid with broader base, costa without setae; sacculus very broad (one-third of width of valva) with few short and very long setae; weakly-sclerotized projection densely setose with shorter setae and rectangular tip slightly longer than single long thorn-like process below; latter not extending beyond costa, hollow, bent with an acuminate tip bearing few tiny setae; median sector of valva with setae on inner face but very long setae (appearing black) towards emargination, the latter extending 40% of length of valva between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process. Saccus elongate, slightly triangular, gently rounded caudally. Juxta as large as saccus with acuminate tips and a deep emargination (90% of length of juxta). Phallus as long as width of valva, not trumpet-like, slightly bilobed with a cleft at each end.

Female. Head and Thorax: Essentially as described for male, except cream scales between eyes, eyes brown with large black patches; antenna 0.37-0.40× length of forewing, unipectinate, with bracnhes 1.0× width of shaft; a pair of narrow tibial spurs of unequal length, outer spur 0.9 mm, inner spur 0.7 mm; forewing length 16.0‒20.0 mm (wingspan 32.0‒41.0 mm); terminal and subterminal lines faint but present.

Abdomen: Genitalia with papillae anales broad, dorsal part 8-shaped in posterior view, densely setose with long and short setae. Segment 8 with many long setae scattered along posterior margin, on dorsal side, and on entire surface, particularly near base of anterior apophyses; two narrow latero-ventral sclerotized bands, fused along posterior margin (in posterior view) and separated along anterior margin (in anterior view), narrow, but broadly rounded towards base of anterior apophysis. The bands covering ca. 30% of ventral side of segment 8. Dorso-anterior margin of abdominal plate entire, without emargination. Posterior apophysis straight with a broader base, 1.2× as broad as width of anterior apophyses. Anterior apophyses straight with a short and rounded tip. Posterior apophyses slightly shorter or of equal length to anterior apophyses. Ductus bursae and corpus bursae thinly membranous, lacking distinct processes; corpus brusae ca. 5.0× longer than width of segment 8 with a nearly rectangular end.

Diagnosis. The male genitalia of Lukeniana butleri resemble those of L. mzuzuensis ; both have a very broad sacculus at least one-third the width of the valva and a narrow, bent, thorn-like process. The two species differ in the shape of the valvae, broadly ovoid in L. butleri , but more narrowly ovoid, sometimes rectangular, in L. mzuzuensis . The male forewing is darker with greater contrasting ochre in the latter species, and uniformly pale cream in L. butleri . The inner side of the valva has long, scattered, black setae in L. butleri . Similar setae are found in L. lutztoepferi , L. michaelgrzimeki , and L. mzuzuensis , but in the latter three species there are more black setae, and basal edge of the uncus is not as straight as it is in L. butleri The female postabdominal structure of L. butleri has two diagnostic characters: (i) segment 8 has many long setae mainly on the dorsal part, near the base of the anterior apophyses, and along the posterior margin. The occurrence of many long setae on segment 8 is a character similar to, but more pronounced in, the configuration in species of Zambezia and even more pronounced in species of the genus Shimonia Lehmann & Rajaei, 2013 . (ii) The corpus bursae is narrow, ca. 5.0× longer than the width of segment 8; hence, it is very large compared to the conspicuously pear-shaped corpus bursae of Zambezia madambae .

Distribution. Lukeniana butleri is distrubted from Harare ( Zimbabwe) to Marondera (formerly Marandellas), ca. 55 km to the southeast, and to Kadoma (formerly Gatooma), ca. 125 km southwest from Harare. Harare (elevation 1,458 –1,538 m) has a subtropical highland climate and is located on the northeastern Highveld plateau (elevation between ca. 1,200 ‒1,600 m) that runs diagonally from northeast to southwest Zimbabwe. The town lies on the Zimbabwean Craton and ca. 150 km south of the Mid-Zambezi Rift, and belongs to the Zambezian regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983). Lukeniana butleri can be classified an Afromontane linking species ( Figs 23e; 23f ).

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana butleri is named in honour of Ronald Rhett Butler (born in Zimbabwe), who has been involved in the safari industry for 39 years, leading birding and wildlife tours in Zimbabwe and other African countries. Rhett was President of the Ornithological Association of Zimbabwe for six years. We are grateful to Rhett for sending specimens of this new species and for his habitat pictures 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.

FIGURE 15. Examples of male genitalia in lateral view: a. Zambezia madambae, paratype, with extremely small thorn-like process and small weakly-sclerotized projection (red arrows); b. Lukeniana timdavenporti, paratype, with strongly bent ventral edge of valva and well developed thorn-like process (red arrows); c. L. bergsteni, paratype, without strongly bent ventral edge of valva and two thorn-like processes (red arrows); d. L. butleri, paratype, with many long setae on valva that appear to be black in colour and one thorn-like process (red arrows).

FIGURE 23. a. Habitat of Zambezia jennyhuntae: The nearly evenly aged structure of the tree layer in a drier type of open miombo woodland dominated by Julbernardia globiflora (Benth.) Troupin (Caesalpiniaceae) and Brachystegia spiciformis Benth. (Caesalpiniaceae) close to Marondera (Zimbabwe) is due to anthropogenic activity since 1929. The young stand in the image is the result of protection of the miombo since the late 1960s. Photo by Rhett Butler (Harare), October 2015. b. Habitat of Zambezia durrellbarnesi: View from the summit of the Bvumba Mountains taken from Castle Beacon (1.911 m) in May 1969 by the late botanist Darrel Plowes (Mutare, Zimbabwe). Beyond the flowering Aloe arborescens Mill. (Aloaceae) (right) is the Burma Valley below and on the southeast side, the high hill in the middle distance is Leopard Rock, a so called “granite bornhardt”. Where the high Bvumba ground drops sharply down into the Burma Valley (730–880 m, both part of the post-African surface developing since 30–25 Ma) in the right centre of the picture, the Witchwood Valley forest or Bungu Forest, begins. The forests seen towards the Burma Valley and Leopard Rock are mixed submontane forests with the highest tree species diversity recorded for Zimbabwe (Müller 2006). Within a few kilometers an older erosion surface (possibly African Surface) may be preserved on Castle Beacon (Lister 1987; Andy Moore pers. com. to I.L. in 2016). The row of hills in the background forms the border with Mozambique and still belongs geomorphologically to the Bvumba Mountains.