Lukeniana lenzi 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 : 36-37

Lukeniana lenzi Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 6e , 12e urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D0D3A2CC-D8A9-45BA-8438-1B01D3BAB120

Type locality and repository: Zamibia, the Zoological State Collection, Munich ( ZSM) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mpika District, Mutinondo , 1,390 m, 1223′53 S, 3119′40 E, 13 October 2009, J. Lenz leg.; on second label: “BC ZSM Lep 33731”; genitalia slide number 10/052015 I. Lehmann ( ZSM) . Paratypes: four males, same locality, date and collector; on second labels: “BC ZSM Lep 33606” gen. no. 07/112015 I. Lehmann ( ZSM); “BC ZSM Lep 33607” gen. no. 08/112015 I. Lehmann ( ZSM); “BC ZSM Lep 33728” gen. no. 01/082015 I. Lehmann ( ZSM); “BC ZSM Lep 33729” genitalia lost during preparation .

Description. Male. Head: Yellow-ochre hair-like scales, not mixed with sepia, shiny; long, dense hair-like scales between eyes; eyes brown with black patches; antenna 0.44-0.50 length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 4.5 width of shaft, covered with cream-coloured scales laterally, shaft covered with cream-coloured scales dorsally; antennal tips not spatulate, slightly bent towards apex; labial palpi pale ochre.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long shiny hair-like scales of yellow-ochre; small metathoracic crest cream coloured. Hindlegs yellow-ochre with fine shiny hair-like scales; one pair of narrow, short tibial spurs present, outer spur ca. 1.0 mm, inner spur ca. 0.6 mm. Forewing length of holotype 14.0 mm (wingspan 30.0 mm), of paratypes 11.5–15.5 mm (wingspan 23.5–32.0 mm). Forewing upperside cream-coloured, mixed with yellow-ochre; costal margin with few sepia striae; termen with small sepia striae; subterminal and postmedial lines comprising striae of pale sepia from near apex to CuA 1; CuA 2 broadly colored pure white, edged sepia above, both bands are of equal width; all remaining veins cream-colouredand hence indistinct; cilia long in forewing and hindwing, 1.5 mm, cream-colouraed, shiny. Underside of forewing roughly scaled with many fine hair-like cream-coloured glossy scales; costal margin dark ochre and with few striae. Hindwing upperside cream-coloured, glossy. Underside as in forewing, costa narrowly coloured sepia, without striae.

Abdomen: Cream-coloured mixed with ochre, shiny; abdominal tuft short, one-fifth abdominal length. Genitalia ( Fig. 12e ) with uncus lobes bearing broadly rounded tips, short and long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus bent at middle; gnathos arms 1.1 as long as basal width of valva; valva subrectangular, slightly broader at base, costa with few setae; sacculus with few setae; entire inner side of valva with scattered short setae, mainly on distal half, weakly-sclerotized projection densely setose, with rectangular tip, and slightly shorter than single thorn-like process below; the latter hollow and with scattered setae; a rounded emargination extending 40% of length of valva between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process; ventral side of valva not bent at middle. Saccus short, fingershaped, opposite a slightly broader ventral part of vinculum (with no plate-like structure). Juxta slightly longer than saccus with two acuminate tips, each bearing a short process, a deep emargination (90% of length of juxta) between tips. Phallus long, 1.3 longer than width of valva, not trumpet-like, bent at middle, slightly bilobate with a cleft at each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Lukeniana lenzi is most similar to L. mbalaensis ; the two share the following characters: the uncus has rounded lobes; the gnathos arms are broad and short, only slightly longer than the basal width of the valva; and the valvae are almost rectangular in shape. The two species mentioned above can be separated by the following: the tips of the uncus lobes are broad in L. lenzi but narrow in L. mbalaensis ; the basal edge of the uncus is bent at the middle in L. lenzi but straight in L. mbalaensis ; and the vinculum is broader than the saccus, forming a plate-like structure in L. mbalaensis , but not broader than the saccus in L. lenzi and a plate-like structure is absent.

Distribution. Lukeniana lenzi is known from the Mutinondo Wilderness Area (1222′S –1230′S and 3115′E– 3121′E; elevation 1,450 ‒1,684 m), an area ca. 100 km 2 in size and located ca. 410 km south of Mbala on the eastern escarpment of the Muchinga Mountains, close to the northeastern edge of the Southern African Plateau on which it sits, and ca. 40‒50 km west of the Luangwa graben that belongs to the Southwestern Branch of the EARS. The MWA lies in the Zambezian regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983) ( Figs 22a; 22b). Lukeniana lenzi is considered an Afromontane linking species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana lenzi is named in honour of Jürgen Lenz, a German national (born in 1954) who has lived and worked in Zimbabwe since 1992 and is currently employed as a gallerist in Leipzig for Zimbabwean stone sculptures. We are grateful to Jürgen for kindly organizing the loan of species of Lukeniana and Zambezia from the historical collections of the NMZB and for his wonderful pictures.

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.