Lukeniana mbalaensis 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 : 33-34

Lukeniana mbalaensis Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 6b, 6c , 12b

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3E97F6E5-AB03-47A7-9EC3-9DF88FB94223

Type locality and repository: Zamibia , the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi ( NMK) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Abercorn (now Mbala, Mbala District , Northern Province), October 1971, “I. R.L.C.S. ( International Red Locust Control Service )” leg., genitalia slide number 21/032015 I. Lehmann ( NMK). Paratypes: one female, Northern Rhodesia, same locality, June 1968, “I. R.L.C.S.” leg., genitalia slide number 09/052015 I. Lehmann ( NMK); one male, same locality, August. 1969, “I. R.L.C.S.” leg., genitalia slide number 30/052016 I. Lehmann ( NMK).

Description. Male. Head: Yellow-ochre mixed with some sepia-coloured hair-like shiny scales; long, dense hair-like scales between eyes; eyes brown with dark brown patches; antenna 0.48-0.49 length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 6.0 width of shaft, branches covered with cream-coloured scales laterally, shaft covered with cream-coloured scales dorsally; antennal tips not spatulate and with two long scales, bending towards apex; labial palpi cream coloured.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with shiny long hair-like cream-coloured scales, mixed with sepia; a small crest of mixed cream-coloured and ivory-yellow scales on metathorax. Hindlegs yellow-ochre with fine, shiny hair-like scales; one pair of narrow tibial spurs present, outer spur ca. 0.9 mm, inner spur ca. 0.7 mm in male. Forewing length of holotype 11.5 mm (wingspan 27.0 mm), of paratype 10.0 mm (wingspan 23.0 mm). Forewing upperside with cream coloured scales mixed with ochre; costal margin without striae; termen with small lunules of faded sepia; terminal and subterminal lines of faded sepia comprising striae from near apex to dorsum, extending nearly parallel; CuA 2 narrowly streaked pure white, edged broadly sepia above; all remaining veins cream and hence not distinctly coloured; cilia long in forewing and hindwing, 1.7 mm in holotype (1.4 mm in paratype male), shiny, cream coloured. Underside of forewing roughly scaled with many fine hair-like cream-coloured glossy scales; costal margin dark ochre and without striae; few striae of faded sepia representing a terminal line. Hindwing upperside cream-coloured, glossy; underside as in forewing, but without striae.

Abdomen: Cream-coloured and ochre, shiny; abdominal tuft short, one-fifth of abdominal length. Genitalia ( Fig. 12b ) with uncus lobes rounded apically, both short and long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus straight (not bent at middle, ventral view); gnathos arms 1.2 longer than basal width of valva; valvae nearly rectangular, costa with few setae; sacculus with few long setae; entire inner surface of valva with short setae, weakly-sclerotized projection densely setose, with a rectangular tip, slightly longer than single thorn-like process below; thorn-like pocess hollow with few scattered setae; a short, rounded emargination extending between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process, 30% of length of valva; ventral side of valva slightly bent at middle. Saccus short, fingershaped, arising from unsually broad ventral part of vinculum. Juxta slightly longer than saccus with two acuminate tips, each bearing a short process, between tips a deep emargination extending 90% of length of juxta. Phallus long, 1.9 as long as width of valva, not trumpet-like, bent at middle, slightly bilobate with a cleft on each end.

Female. Head: Essentially as described for male, except compound eyes brown with dark brown spots; antenna 0.29 length of forewing, unipectinate, but slightly bipectinate towards tip, with branches 1.2 width of shaft, shaft scaled dorsally, some branches scaled laterally; antennal tips very short, not bending towards apex; labial palpus slightly longer than eye diameter.

Thorax: Essentially as described for male, except sepia scales absent from patagia and tegulae; forewing length 17.5 mm (wingspan 36.0 mm); forewing terminal and subterminal sepia markings absent; forewing and hindwing cilia 2.0 mm. Hindwing upperside not glossy. Outer tibial spur 1.2 mm, inner spur 1.0 mm.

Abdomen: Genitalia with papillae anales broad, 8-shaped dorsally in posterior view, densely setose with long and short setae. Segment 8 with few scattered setae along posterior margin and on dorsal surface. Two sclerotized bands (plates) latero-ventrally, lower band 1.5 as broad as upper band, latter extending to near base of anterior apophyses (in lateral view); inner plate with a rectangular end, outer band with acuminate end; lower broader band covering entire width of ventral side of segment 8; dorso-anterior margin of abdominal plate without emargination. Posterior apophyses straight with base twice as broad as width of anterior apophyses, extending to half of their length, posteriorly without a narrow thorn-like projection and without uneven dorsal edge. Anterior apophyses straight, slightly longer than posterior apophyses. Ductus bursae and corpus bursae both thinly membranous, lacking processes or distinct sclerotized features. Corpus bursae round, 2 as long as anterior apophysis; ductus bursae short, 1.2 length of anterior apophysis.

Diagnosis. Lukeniana mbalaensis is, based on morphological characters, most similar to L. mzuzuensis and L. lenzi (see diagnosis of the latter species). Noteworthy is a feature shared with L. mzuzuensis rarely encountered elsewhere in Lukeniana ; in both species the ventral side of the valva is slightly bent at middle. Lukeniana mbalaensis can be distinguished from L. mzuzuensis by the shorter emargination of the valva, i.e., 30% of the length of valva; the narrow, finger-shaped saccus, opposite a broad ventral plate of vinculum in L. mbalaensis , compared to the broad saccus in L. mzuzuensis , with a narrow ventral part of vinculum (without a plate); the straight basal edge of the uncus, that is bent at the middle in L. mzuzuensis ; and the entire inner surface of the valva covered with numerous short setae, compared to the restriction of the setae to the median sector of valva in L. mzuzuensis . In the paratype male, the emargination is slightly larger, the ventral edge of uncus slightly bent, and the ventral part of the vinculum narrower, with a small plate. However, since these morphological differences are not significant enough, possibly suggesting that certain characters are slightly variable, this specimen is not excluded from the type series, but treated here as a paratype.

In the female, the latero-ventral band covers the entire ventral side of segment 8, whereas in L. mzuzuensis 35% of the ventral side of segment 8 is covered; and the posterior apophyses have a short thorn-like process at their posterior ends in L. mzuzuensis that is absent in L. mbalaensis . The labial palpi of female L. mbalaensis are slightly longer than the eye diameter, longer than in all the other females of Lukeniana .

Distribution. Lukeniana mbalaensis is known from Mbala 850′S, 3122′E; elevation 1,469 –1,681 m, average annual rainfall 1240 mm), which is located near the northeastern edge of the Southern African Plateau, adjacent to the Tanganyika Rift in northeast Zambia. This area is within the Albertine Rift Region (sensu Plumptre et al. 2007) and belongs to the Zambezian regional centre of endemism (sensu White (1983). Lukeniana mbalaensis is considered an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana mbalaensis is named after the type locality of Mbala in northeast Zambia.

Figures

FIGURE 6. a. Lukeniana kammeri, holotype, male, Kenya, County Kiambu, Thika; b. L. mbalaensis, paratype, female, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; c. L. mbalaensis, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; d. L. hausmanni, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, 23 km southeast Mbala; e. L. lenzi, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mutinondo Wilderness Area; f. L. robplowesi, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; g. L. utaheidenreichae, holotype, male, Mozambique, Manica Province, Barr De Chikamba Real; h. L. stueningi, holotype, male, Zambia, Muchinga Province, Nyika National Park, Manyenjere Forest.

FIGURE 12. a. Lukeniana mzuzuensis, holotype, male, Malawi, Northern Region, Mzuzu, Nkhorongo; b. L. mbalaensis, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; c. L. robplowesi, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; d. L. hausmanni, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, 23 km southeast Mbala; e. L. lenzi, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mutinondo Wilderness Area; f. L. stueningi, holotype, male, Zambia, Muchinga Province, Nyika National Park, Manyenjere Forest.