Lukeniana hausmanni 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 : 35-36

Lukeniana hausmanni Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 6d , 12d

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C195A4C6-F91B-4BDD-A141-76C057E1C04F

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

Material examined. Holotype male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala District, 30 km southeast from Mbala, 905′21 S, 3127′65 E (= ca. 23 km southeast Mbala and ca. 1.4 km southeast Chalumba village ), 13 October 2009, J. Lenz leg.; second label (barcode): “BC ZSM Lep33737”; third label: genitalia slide number 17/052015 I. Lehmann ( ZSM) . Paratype male, Zambia, Northern Province, same locality, same date and collector; second label: “BC ZSM Lep33735”; third label: genitalia slide number 08/122015 I. Lehmann ( ZSM) .

Description. Male. Head: Yellow-ochre mixed with some shiny sepia-coloured hair-like scales; long, dense hair-like scales between eyes; eyes vinaceous brown with small black patches; antenna 0.56‒0.58 length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 6.5 width of shaft, 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, slightly longer than eye diameter.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with and long, shiny cream-coloured hair-like scales; a small cream-coloured metathoracic crest with ivory-yellow scales intermixed. Hindlegs yellow-ochre with fine, shiny hair-like scales; in holotype and paratype two pairs of narrow tibial spurs present on hindlegs, outer spur of lower pair of holotype ca. 1.0 mm, inner spur ca. 0.7 mm, outer spur of paratype ca. 0.8 mm, inner spur ca. 0.5 mm; outer spur in upper pair of holotype ca. 0.9 mm, inner spur ca. 0.3 mm, outer spur of paratype ca. 0.6 mm, inner spur ca. 0.2 mm. Forewing length in holotype 12.0 mm (wingspan 25.5 mm), in paratype 11.5 mm (wingspan 25.0 mm). Forewing upperside cream-coloured mixed with ochre; costal margin without striae; termen without lunules or faded lunules; terminal and subterminal lines absent in both males; CuA 2 light ochre, edged broadly with sepia above; all remaining veins cream-coloured hence indistinct; cilia long in forewing and hindwing, 1.2 mm in both males, cream coloured, glossy. Underside of forewing roughly scaled with many fine hair-like cream-coloured glossy scales; costal margin dark ochre, without striae. Hindwing upperside cream coloured, glossy; underside as in forewing.

Abdomen: Cream-coloured mixed with ochre, shiny; abdominal tuft short, one-fifth abdomen length. Genitalia ( Fig. 12d ) with uncus lobes subtriangular, with short and long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus almost straight (slightly bent at middle, ventral view); gnathos arms 1.4 longer than basal width of valva; valva rectangular, costa with few setae; sacculus with few setae; inner side of valva with short setae except in centre, weakly-sclerotized projection setose, with a subrectangular tip longer than single thorn-like process below; the latter well developed, hollow, thick, bent and with few scattered tiny setae; long, rounded emargination extending 45% of length of valva between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process; ventral side of valva not bent at middle. Saccus long, narrowly acuminate, attached to a broader ventral part of vinculum that forms no plate. Juxta not longer than saccus, with two acuminate tips, each bearing a tiny process, between tips a deep emargination extending 90% of length of juxta. Phallus short, 1.2 as long as width of valva, not trumpet-like, not bent at middle, bilobate with cleft on each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Lukeniana hausmanni has two characters that separate it from all remaining species of Lukeniana : the hindlegs have two pairs of tibial spurs, of which the inner spur of upper pair is strongly reduced; and the lobes of the uncus are nearly triangular with rounded tips. Two characters in the shape of the uncus lobes and saccus are similar only to L. enaiposha (see diagnosis). Both species have a well-developed, thorn-like process and no platelike structure associated with the vinculum, from which the thorn-like saccus originates.

Distribution. Lukeniana hausmanni is known only from Chalumba village (elevation 1,565 m, average annual rainfall ca. 1200 mm), located near, but still on, the northeastern edge of the Southern African Plateau south of the Tanganyika Rift and ca. 20 km south of the Albertine Rift Region (sensu Plumptre et al. 2007) in the Zambezian regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983) ( Fig. 20d ). Lukeniana hausmanni is considered an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana hausmanni is named after Dr. Axel Hausmann, head of the Lepidoptera Section of the ZSM. The first author is grateful to Axel for his support during the studies on the Metarbelidae , and for the comprehensive loans of more than 50 undescribed species from the collections at the ZSM.

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.

FIGURE 20. a. Habitat of Lukeniana enaiposha with Rothschild’s Giraffes, Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi Lydekker (1903) graze in a woodland site at 1.786 m elevation within Lake Nakuru National Park (Kenya) ca. 1 km south of the lake dominated by tall (> 15 m) and young trees of Acacia xanthophloea Benth. (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) mixed with shrubs of Rhus natalensis Bernh. (Anacardiaceae) (right) and Solanum incanum L. (Solanaceae) (foreground). Picture taken by Shimoni Lehmann in March 2016. b. Between 1600 and 2000 m Lower montane Cassipourea forest sensu Hemp (2006b) covers the slopes of Mount Meru (4.566 m). The picture shows an undisturbed forest of this type comprising trees of Ficus thonningii Blume (Moraceae), Olea capensis L. (Oleaceae) and Ekebergia capensis Sparrm. (Meliaceae) with smaller trees of Vepris simplicifolia (Verd.) Mziray (Rutaceae) and Casearia battiscombei R.E. Fries (Flacourtiaceae). Ferns are present on the ground indicating a wetter site with species of Pteris dentata Forssk. (Pteridaceae) and Asplenium aethiopicum (Burm. f.) Bech. (Aspleniaceae). Note that Lukeniana timdavenporti occurs in a similar habitat on Mount Elgon (Kenya/Uganda), but is not closely related to L. andreashempi and L. michaelgrzimeki, that both occur on Mount Meru. Picture by Dr. Andreas Hemp. c. Habitat of Lukeniana mzuzuensis: wetter, ca. 50 years old Zambezian miombo woodland sensu White (1983) at Nkhorongo (Malawi) with diverse structure, high species diversity, e.g. leguminous trees. The treelet with broad leaves in the bottom right corner is Uapaca nitida Müll. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae); in the centre left is U. kirkiana Müll. Arg.; background trees are Brachystegia utilis Burtt Davy & Hutch., B. floribunda Benth., B. spiciformis Benth. (Fabaceae: Caesalpiniaceae), Uapaca sansibarica Pax., Julbernardia paniculata (Benth.) Troupin (Caesalpiniaceae), Dalbergia melanoxylon Guill. & Perr. (Papilionaceae). In the top right centre is Cussonia arborea Hochst. (Araliaceae) with light green leaves. Picture by Raymond Murphy (Nkhorongo), May 2016. d. Road ca. 23 km southeast Mbala (Zambia), close to the habitat of Lukeniana hausmanni, on the Southern African Plateau with northern wet miombo sensu Chidumayo (1997); Brachystegia-Isoberlinia-Julbernardia association mixed with Albizia antunesiana Harms (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae). Picture by Jürgen Lenz (Leipzig), October 2009.