Zambezia darrelplowesi 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 : 70-80

Zambezia darrelplowesi Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 1c , 9a , 10c

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4919A95A-98F2-456B-8D6A-F3FCB3CD5E56

Type locality and repository: Zimbabwe, the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo ( NMZB) .

Material examined. Holotype female, S. Rhodesia (‘ Southern Rhodesia’ since 1901, today Zimbabwe), Hospital (no town mentioned), Umtali District (today Mutare District, Manica-land Province), 11 November 1935, P. A. Sheppard leg., on second label: “Access. No. 4485”, on third label: “ Metarbelodes Strand umtaliana Aur. A.J.T. Janse det. very large”, genitalia slide number 12/092015 I. Lehmann ( NMZB).

Description. Male. Unknown.

Fermale. Head: Honey yellow mixed with sepia and cream, shiny; long, ochre, hair-like scales between compound eyes; eyes brown with many black spots; antenna 0.37× times forewing length, mostly unipectinate, but bipectinate towards tip, with branches 1.3× width of shaft, shaft covered with cream-coloured scales dorsally, few cream-coloured scales on branches; antennal tips at least as long as branch, bending slightly towards apex; labial palpi honey yellow.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long hair-like scales of ochre and pale cream, shiny. Small pale cream crest of scales on metathorax, glossy. Hindlegs yellow ochre with fine hair-like scales, shiny, with a pair of narrow tibial spurs of unequal length, outer spur 1.1 mm, inner spur 0.8 mm. Forewing length 23.0 mm (wingspan 49.0 mm).

Forewing large, 1.4×width of hindwing, upperside with faded dark ochre coloured lines and striae on an ochre ground colour, slightly glossy towards termen; a broad white band below CuA 2, latter narrowly edged with faint sepia above; three more-or-less continuous lines of faint sepia, straight, originating near costa and lines terminating at CuA 1 or below, costa honey yellow with striae from base to apex; veins not distinctly coloured; cilia long, 1.2 mm, pale cream with shiny; faint sepia spots at ends of veins along termen. Forewing underside roughly scaled, cream,

no striae on costa, slightly glossy. Hindwing upperside cream, glossy; cilia as in forewing; underside cream, glossy,

not darker along costa.

Abdomen: Honey yellow mixed with cream, glossy; abdominal tuft one-third abdominal length. Genitalia with papillae anales broad, dorsal part 8-shaped in posterior view, densely covered with mainly long setae. Scattered long setae on segment 8, many long setae along posterior margin; two narrow latero-ventral sclerotized bands,

fused along its posterior margin (in posterior view) and separated along its anterior margin (in anterior view), with an acuminate end towards base of anterior apophysis (in lateral view); bands covering ca. 30% of ventral side of segment 8. Dorso-anterior margin of abdominal plate without an emargination. Posterior apophyses straight, very broad, 2.0× as broad as width of anterior apophyses, from base to more than half of their length, tip narrow and rectangular. Anterior apophyses almost straight, not bent at middle, slightly bent towards rectangular tip. Anterior apophyses 1.4× longer than posterior apophyses. Ductus bursae and corpus bursae thinly membranous without processes; ductus bursae twice as long as corpus bursae, latter pear-shaped.

Diagnosis. This is the largest known species of Metarbelodes genus-group. The forewing venation is similar to that of Metarbelodes umtaliana , Z. jennyhuntae , and Z. durrellbarnesi ; the three species share the following characters: an areole of medium size, not as large as upper half of cell, and the CuP vein is represented by a strong and continuous fold, similar to an intact vein particularly strong sclerotized near the wing base and towards the dorsum. The latter character is shared with Z. madambae . Of note is that Z. darrelplowesi is currently the only species of Zambezia , in which parts of the CuP are weakly sclerotized along the entire ventral edge of this vein towards the dorsum. Vein R 2 is separated from R 3 +R 4 in both Z. darrelplowesi and Z. madambae . There are two characters of the female postabdominal structure that separate Z. darrelplowesi from all other known females: (i) the anterior apophyses are 1.4× longer than the posterior apophyses, and (ii) the posterior apophyses are very broad, 2.0× as broad as the width of anterior apophyses on ca. 65% of their length. The female genitalia of Z. darrelplowesi have a pear-shaped, small corpus bursae (astonishing small for such a large female), whereas the corpus bursae of Z. durrellbarnesi is more rounded and larger, as large as segment 8.

Distribution. Zambezia darrelplowesi is known only from Mutare (18°59′S, 32°40′E; elevation 1,051 –1,341 m), Zimbabwe. Mutare (formerly Umtali) is located in the Manica Gap, ca. 1.5 km northwest of the Bvumba Mountains (elevation 1,911 m at Castle Beacon), which belongs to the Zambezian regional centre of endemism, while the upland parts of the Bvumba Mountains belong to the Afromontane archipelago-like regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983). Zambezia darrelplowesi is defined an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Zambezia darrelplowesi is named in honour of the late Darrel Charles Herbert Plowes. We are grateful to Darrel for sharing his unpublished information about Old Umtali and the present Mutare locations and their habitats, which unfortunately are now largely destroyed. (See Appendix 1 for full etymology).

Taxonomic checklist of Metarbelodes genus-group

Genus Metarbelodes Strand, 1909

umtaliana ( Aurivillius, 1901)

Figures

FIGURE 1. a. Zambezia jennyhuntae, holotype, male, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Mutare (formerly Umtali); b. Z. durrellbarnesi, holotype, female, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Bvumba Mountains; c. Z. darrelplowesi, holotype, female, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Mutare (formerly Umtali), Hospital (today Kopje House); d. Metarbelodes umtaliana, holotype, male, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Old Umtali or Umtali (today Mutare).

FIGURE 9. Wing venation of: a. Zambezia darrelplowesi, female, holotype (Zambezia = subgroup G1 in Lehmann 2019b); b. Lukeniana obliqualinea, female, Kenya, County Nairobi, Ngong (Lukeniana = subgroup G3 in Lehmann 2019b); c. Zambezia madambae, male, holotype; d. Z. diredaouaensis, male, paratype; e. Lukeniana tubiraensis, male, holotype; f. Metarbelodes umtaliana, male, holotype (Metarbelodes = subgroup G2 in Lehmann 2019b). The areole (blue arrows) is a possible plesiomorphy (in Lehmann 2019b, p. 24), the continuous CuP fold (red arrows), partly sclerotized, is a very rare apomorphy (in Lehmann 2019b, p. 25) among species of Metarbelidae. It has been found only in species close to or to the South of the Zambezi River. In the same areas an intact CuP on the forewing occurs only in basal species (as defined by Lehmann 2019b, pp. 24 and 25) of Metarbelidae (Lehmann 2019b). The complete loss of the CuP in the forewing is another apomorphy (Lehmann 2019b, p. 322) that occurs in the majority of species of Metarbelidae in theAfrotropical Region and Oriental Region (seeFigure 39).Drawings by I.L.

FIGURE 10. An intact CuP vein on the forewing is a plesiomorphy (cf. Fig. 9) and occurs only in basal Metarbelidae in northeastern parts of the Republic of South Africa, mainly on the Southern African Plateau, and on the plateau area of Mount Mulanje, only 90 km to the North of the Zambezi River (Lehmann 2019b). Figured are examples of apomorphies in regard to the CuP on forewing (red arrows): a. CuP absent, CuP fold is weak but not continuous in Lukeniana michaelgrzimeki, female, paratype; b. The CuP fold is almost entirely absent in L. rajaeii, male, paratype; c. Zambezia darrelplowesi, female, holotype and d. Z. madambae, male, paratype, both have a strong CuP fold, continuous and partly sclerotized. Images were taken by Dr. Hossein Rajaei (SMNS) in November 2015.