Lukeniana lutztoepferi 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 : 21-22

Lukeniana lutztoepferi Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 4, 4b , 13f

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3FA8A9D1-6033-4754-8192-AEBCCE126825

Type locality and repository: Kenya, the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium ( RMCA) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Kenya, Nairobi , Olulua Forest (misspelling of Ololua Forest), 15 April 2001, Dr. Ugo Dall’Asta leg., genitalia slide number 02/062012 I. Lehmann ( RMCA) . Paratype female, Kenya, Nairobi , Ngong, February 1954, Fowler & Coulson leg., genitalia slide number 05/082012 I. Lehmann ( NHMUK) .

Description. Male. Head: Ochre, with long, dense hair-like scales between compound eyes; eyes dull violetblack with small black spots; antennae 0.56 length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 5 width of shaft, branches and shaft covered with ochre scales laterally and dorsally; antennal tips slightly spatulate with long scales, bending towards apex; labial palpi ochre.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long, shiny hair-like scales of ochre (in female with several drops of resin). A small crest of ochre mixed with ivory-yellow on metathorax. Hind legs ochre with fine hair-like scales, shiny; one pair of narrow, long tibial spurs present, spurs unequal in length ca. 1.1 mm (outer spur) and ca. 0.9 mm (inner spur) in male. Forewing length 12.5 mm (wingspan 27.0 mm), forewing upperside ochre in both sexes; costal margin and whole forewing without sepia-coloured striae in both sexes; towards termen mixed with light olive in male, less visible in female; termen only with very small lunules of sepia in male and very fine striae of sepia in female; terminal line and subterminal line absent in both sexes; reticulated pattern absent in both sexes; CuA 2 ivory-yellow, not edged sepia above in either sex; all remaining veins not distinctly coloured; base of forewing in female faintly sepia, less visible in male; cilia long, 1.3 mm in male and 1.2 mm in female, ochre, shiny in both sexes. Underside of forewing is roughly scaled, ochre, glossy, costal margin slightly darker but without striae in both sexes. Hindwing upperside and cilia ivory-yellow in both sexes, glossy, cilia as in forewing; underside ochre, glossy, costal margin not darker and without striae in both sexes.

Abdomen: Mainly ochre mixed with ivory-yellow, shiny; abdominal tuft short, one-fourth of abdominal length. Genitalia ( Fig. 13f ) with uncus elongate, with one uncus lobe longer than width of base of entire uncus, lobes narrow and with rounded tips, inner edge rounded with long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus strongly bent at middle; gnathos arms very long (ca. 1.5 longer than basal width of valva), extending towards near upper half of juxta; valvae ovoid with a broader base, costa without setae; sacculus with scattered long and short setae; weakly-sclerotized projection setose, with a rounded tip and slightly shorter than single thick and short thorn-like process below; latter strongly bent upward and well developed, hollow with a rounded tip that has few setae; median sector of valva with scattered setae on inner side; rounded emargination extending between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process and 35% of length of valva; ventral side of valva not bent at middle. Saccus longer than broad (base at least as broad as width of juxta) with a strong fold or slit in centre, not finger-shaped, tip narrowly rounded. Juxta broad with two acuminate tips with a short process at each tip, emargination between tips deep (80% of length of juxta). Phallus not trumpet-like, longer than width of valva, slightly bent near middle, bilobed with a cleft at each end.

Female. Head and Thorax: Essentially as decribed for male, except antenna 0.44 length of forewing, unipectinate, with branches 1.5 width of shaft, antennal tips very short, acuminate, with slightly longer hair-like scales than males, bending towards apex; hindleg spurs unequal in length, ca. 0.9 mm (outer spur) and ca. 0.8 mm (inner spur); forewing length 16.0 mm (wingspan 33.0 mm).

Abdomen: Papillae anales broad, 8-shaped dorsally in posterior view, densely setose with long and short setae. Few short setae on entire segment 8 but many setae along its posterior margin. Ventral plates broad, with outer plate as a latero-ventral sclerotized band covering 90% of ventral side of segment 8, triangular in lateral view; band with an acuminate end towards base of anterior apophysis and a short emargination at its medio-posterior edge; a second but shorter band of similar shape behind former. Dorso-anterior margin of abdominal plate without emargination. Posterior apophyses very narrow, slightly S-shaped and bent towards dorsal side of segment 8, their bases not broad- er and with rounded ends, processes absent. Anterior apophyses straight, of equal length as posterior apophyses.

Diagnosis. Lukeniana lutztoepferi has elongate, narrow forewings much longer than the hindwings in both sexes; Females of L. lutztoepferi and L. mbalaensis are the smallest in the genus Lukeniana . The male and female of L. lutztoepferi are considerably smaller than those of L. obliqualinea , which also occurs in the Nairobi area. The genitalia have the following unique character states: the uncus is the most elongate in the genus with very long setae ventrally; and the gnathos arms are very long, extending to near the upper half of the juxta. The female postabdominal structure has three diagnostic characters: the ventral band has a short emargination at its postero-medial edge; the posterior apophyses are narrow with no processes at the posterior ends; and the anterior apophyses are not uniformly broad but narrower towards their end.

Distribution. Lukeniana lutztoepferi is known from the Ololua Forest, situated on the southwestern outskirts of Nairobi (south-central Kenya) at an elevation of ca. 1,750 –1,850 m as well as from the Ngong Forest situated 7 km further north at an elevation of 1,890 m. Both habitats are referred to as dry transitional montane forest (sensu White 1983) or dry upland forest (sensu Mungai & Beentje 1989). Based on its distribution, L. lutztoepferi is considered an Afromontane near-endemic species as defined herein.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana lutztoepferi is named in honour of Lutz Töpfer (Berlin), the son of Professor Dr. Klaus Töpfer, former Executive Director of UNEP in Nairobi (1998–2006), for his substantial help in receiving financial support through the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU, Osnabrück) of the first comprehensive book on the history and importance of avenues (tree-lined roads and pathways) in Germany, Alleen in Deutschland —Bedeutung, Pflege und Entwicklung ( Lehmann and Rohde 2006).

Figures

FIGURE 4. a. Lukeniana lutztoepferi, holotype, male, Kenya, County Nairobi, Ololua Forest; b. L. lutztoepferi, paratype, female, Kenya, County Nairobi, Ngong; c. L. madrandelei, paratype, male, DRC, Katanga Province, Lubumbashi; d. L. madrandelei, paratype, female, DRC, Katanga Province, Lubumbashi; e. L. friederikebauerae, paratype, male, Zambia, Lusaka Province, Lusaka; f. L. friederikebauerae, paratype, female, Zambia, Lusaka Province, Lusaka.

FIGURE 13. a. Lukeniana enaiposha, holotype, male, Kenya, Rift Valley Province, near Lake Naivasha; b. L. obliqualinea, male, Kenya, County Nairobi, Nairobi; c. L. raymondrevellii, holotype, male, Namibia, Otjozondjupa Region, Ozombanda; d. L. rajaeii, paratype, male, Ethiopia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’Region, Gidole; e. L. tubiraensis, holotype, male, Tanzania, Kigoma Region, Tubira Forest; f. L. lutztoepferi, holotype, male, Kenya, County Nairobi, Ololua Forest.