Shimbania durbanica (Hampson, 1910) Lehmann & Dalsgaard, 2023

Lehmann, Ingo & Dalsgaard, Thure, 2023, Revision of Saalmulleria Mabille, 1891 (Lepidoptera, Metarbelidae) from Madagascar with the description of three new genera and fifteen new species, Evolutionary Systematics 7 (1), pp. 133-182 : 133

Shimbania durbanica (Hampson, 1910) comb. nov.

Figs 3b, c , 10A, C

Lebedodes durbanica Hampson, 1910: Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 8, Vol. VI, July 1910, 118-119: "Hab. Natal, Durban (Leigh, Bowker, Quekett), 5 ♂ type." [no date published but ex own data of I.L. the type in BMNH is labelled as follows: "Durban, 08. March 1907, G.F. Leigh, B.M. 1909-71"]. Original combination.

Material examined.

Male , [Republic of South Africa], [Province KwaZulu-Natal], Durban , no date, Clark [leg.], genitalia slide number 12b/062009 I. Lehmann (NRM); male, [ Republic of South Africa], [Province KwaZulu-Natal], Stanger, February 1958, Miss C. Schulz [leg.], genitalia slide number 31/122008 I. Lehmann (NMK); male, [Republic of South Africa], [Province KwaZulu-Natal], "Verulam, Natal", no date, [A.J.] Spiller [leg.], on a second label in handwriting "Staudinger K.7 43." [hence, collected most probably well before October 1900 when Dr. Otto Staudinger died], genitalia slide number 12/062009 I. Lehmann (ZMHU); female, [ Republic of South Africa], [Province KwaZulu-Natal], "Natal, Durban", 12. December 84 [1884], G. Leigh [leg.], "19 ex-coll. CH. Oberthur [Charles Oberthür], R. Biedermann ded. [delivered?] Muséum Paris", another label indicates " Coll. R. Biedermann [number] 287", genitalia slide number 01/092020 I. Lehmann (MNHN); female, [Republic of South Africa], [Province KwaZulu-Natal], Durban, December 1905, A.T. Cuotte [?], [leg.], genitalia slide number 22/032021 I. Lehmann (NRM) .

Re-description.

Male (ex NRM). Head: ventrally sepia (without any chestnut colour), the rest is deep olive-buff, short scales with cream tips, glossy; eyes black without spots and surrounded by long hair-like scales of sepia with a glint; a pair of pits is present on lower fronto-clypeus, a pair of projections absent; pits behind labial palpi are extremely narrow slits; antenna long, 0.44 length of forewing (0.42 in males from Verulam and Stanger), bipectinate, branches long, 4.0 × width of shaft, not scaled, all branches are widely separated at base, 1.5 × width of branch; shaft covered with ivory-yellow scales dorsally; labial palpi long, slightly longer than half of eye-diameter, sepia.

Thorax: Patagia deep olive-buff, forming a collar ring, scales with light grey tips; tegulae with long hair-like dark chestnut scales with a light lilac-golden glint. Metathorax with scale-crest of deep olive-buff with a small patch of dark chestnut at center. Hind legs deep olive-buff with fine hair-like scales with light grey tips, on lower part of tarsus light brown dorsally; two pairs of short tibial spurs (cf. Shimbania mbarikaensis sp. nov.) of unequal width and length, upper pair broad, ca. 1.7 mm and 1.1 mm long, lower pair of spurs narrow, ca. 1.4 mm and 0.9 mm long. Forewing length 18.0 mm and wingspan is 41.0 mm (42.0 mm in male from Verulam, 42.5 mm in male from Stanger). Forewing upperside deep olive-buff with a light golden glint towards termen, costal margin not distinctly marked; below first half of 1A+2A a dark chestnut patch; forewing with weak, very narrow and dark olive lines from costa to dorsum, veins not distinctly marked, except CuA2 which is narrowly dark olive; a small, weak and dark olive, nearly “Y” -shaped subterminal patch, oval, from R3 to near end of CuA2 and hence, with a long stalk (also in male from Verulam and Stanger); termen without lunules; cilia short, 0.9 mm, deep olive-buff with a glint. Underside of forewing is olive-buff with a golden glint. Hindwing upperside is pale olive-buff with a light golden glint; cilia as in forewing; underside as in forewing.

Abdomen: Deep olive-buff with hair-like scales with a light golden glint; abdominal tuft with hair-like scales of deep olive-buff, short, 1/5 length of abdomen. Genitalia with very long and narrow uncus, 80% of length of whole gnathos, narrow graben-like surface ventrally is present and well visible (in three males). Gnathos has gnathos arms that are large, one arm 40% the size of valva; upper part of the gnathos arm is a short band that is only as long as 30% of basal width of valva, the lower part of the gnathal arm does touch the other arm and both are overlapping, it is of broad triangular shape with a pronounced thorn-like structure and with its base 60% of the basal width of valva, but a strongly serrate dorsal edge as well as short thorn-like structures are absent (in three males); the gnathal arms are connected ventrally by a narrow sclerotized band that is as broad as 20% of the transtilla and is widely bifurcated at the middle. The Gnathos arms end above the dorsal edge of the transtilla. The valva (in three males) is elongated, broadly rectangular with a dorsal edge of 2.0 × the length of uncus, ventral edge of valva not or only slightly bent inwards at half of ventral edge, with a tip that is broadly rounded; sacculus not pronounced, narrow, weakly sclerotized, short, 30% of length of ventral edge of valva; juxta well developed, with two ear-shaped lobes and a narrowly V-shaped emargination in between that is 60% the length of juxta, tips of lobes rounded. Phallus large, as broad as 30% of basal width of valva and 20% longer than costal width of valva, bent upwards at tip distally, vesica without cornuti.

Description.

Female (ex NRM). Head: deep olive-buff (without any chestnut colour), short scales with or without cream tips, slightly glossy; eyes dark olive with few black spots and surrounded by long hair-like scales of light brown and deep olive-buff with a weak glint; a pair of pits is absent on lower fronto-clypeus, a pair of well visible projections is present on fronto-clypeus (in both females); pits behind labial palpi are narrow oval-shaped holes; antenna short, 0.34 length of forewing, bipectinate, branches long, 3.5 × width of shaft, not scaled, all branches are widely separated at base, 2.0 × width of branch; shaft covered with cream scales dorsally; labial palpi long, slightly longer than half of eye-diameter, light brown.

Thorax: Patagia deep olive-buff, forming a collar ring, scales with light grey tips; tegulae with long hair-like dark chestnut scales with a weak lilac glint. Metathorax with a crest of deep olive-buff scales mixed with ivory-yellow scales, with a small patch of light brown at center. Hind legs deep olive-buff with fine hair-like scales, some with light grey tips, on lower part of tarsus light brown dorsally; two pairs of long tibial spurs (cf. Shimbania mbarikaensis sp. nov.) of unequal width and length, upper pair broad, ca. 2.1 mm and 1.9 mm long, lower pair of spurs narrow, ca. 1.7 mm and 1.1 mm long (in both females). Forewing length 19.0 mm and wingspan is 44.0 mm. Forewing upperside deep olive-buff with a light golden-lilac glint towards termen, costal margin not distinctly marked; below first half of 1A+2A a dark chestnut patch; forewing largely without any dark olive lines, veins not distinctly marked, except CuA2 which is narrowly dark olive, but only weakly marked; a small, weak and dark olive subterminal patch, narrowly oval-shaped, from R3 to near end of CuA2 and hence, with a long stalk; termen without lunules; cilia long, 1.5 mm, deep olive-buff with a glint. Underside of forewing is olive-buff with a golden glint. Hindwing upperside is pale olive-buff with a light golden glint; cilia as in forewing; underside as in forewing.

Abdomen: Mainly olive-buff mixed with cream, glossy; abdominal tuft olive-buff, medium long, 1/4 length of abdomen. Postabdominal structure and genitalia: with a small, narrow papillae anales, not broader than base of posterior apophysis, with many short and long setae, lobes of papillae anales very small for such a large species, 20% of size of papillae anales with some long setae towards the tip of each lobe; segment 8 broadly rectangular with broader dorsal edge, posterior margin with two rows of long setae (up to 70% as long as the dorsal part of segment 8), ventral part narrower, also with many long setae; an oblique row of long setae is absent on segment 8 (cf. S. kerstinhempae sp. nov.); attached to the ventral end of segment 8 is a narrow sclerotized band that is connected with the base of the anterior apophysis; anterior apophysis narrow, 2.1 × longer than posterior apophysis, broader at base, straight, not bent; posterior apophyses narrow with a broader tip, the extremely large sclerotized base of the posterior apophysis is half the size of the papillae anales in lateral view. Ductus bursae very long, 3 × as long as dorsal width of segment 8, thinly membranous and narrow. The corpus bursae large, 2 × the size of segment 8 in lateral view, elongated oval-shaped, thinly membranous and without any structures (Fig. 10C ).

Diagnosis.

Shimbania durbanica is a small species in both sexes, and if compared to species of Shimbania occurring north of the Limpopo River, it is only slightly larger than S. kaguruensis sp. nov. Apart from the size, the male genitalia of S. durbanica has a unique character, namely a very broad tegumen which is broader than the length of the upper band-like structure of the gnathos, representing the broadest tegumen among all species of Shimbania presented herein. Other characters in the male genitalia are most similar to a species that occurs in Tanzania, namely S. pwaniensis sp. nov. Both species have a large triangular lower part of gnathos that has only one thorn-like appendice and an elongated, rectangular valva that has a dorsal edge of 2.0 × the length of uncus. The tip of valva is slightly pointed in the latter species but broadly rounded in S. durbanica . Further differences between both species are the width of the uncus that is 2.0 × as broad in S. pwaniensis sp. nov. as in S. durbanica . Additionally, the former species has a broad and wavy-shaped ventral base of the vinculum. The female genitalia and postabdominal structure can be separated from all other congeners by the narrow dorsal part of segment 8 if compared to the length of the anterior apophysis that is 2.0 × longer than segment 8 dorsally, the extremely large sclerotized base of the posterior apophysis that is half the size of the papillae anales in lateral view and a very long ductus bursae that is 3.0 × as long as the dorsal width of segment 8 and is among the longest in Metarbelidae .

Distribution.

Shimbania durbanica is known from areas in and around Durban (altitude 2-145 m) extending its range via Verulam (altitude 23-292 m) to Stanger (altitude 23-219 m), located ca. 27 km and ca. 60 km north of Durban, and hence, from habitats near the coastline of the Indian Ocean up to ca. 16 km further inland. All habitats of S. durbanica belong to the "KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Belt" sensu Mucina et al. (2006b) (Indian Ocean Coastal Belt Biome). One of the characters of this biome is the absence of an entirely rain-free (dry) period. The habitats are certainly highly dissected today due to large sugarcane fields, timber plantations and coastal holiday resorts but the areas mentioned above were once covered to a great extent by a subtropical "Northern Coastal Forest" sensu Mucina and Geldenhuys (2006) dominated by Albizia adianthifolia W.F. Wight ( Leguminosae - Mimosoideae ), Drypetes natalensis Hutch. ( Euphorbiaceae ), Englerophytum natalense T.D. Penn. ( Sapotaceae ) and mixed with, e.g. Brachylaena discolor DC. ( Compositae ) and Mimusops caffra E. Mey ( Sapotaceae ). The remnants of "Northern Coastal Forest" between Durban and Verulam towards around Stanger all have almost certainly a small size and are isolated today. Hence, like its habitat, S. durbanica is potentially threatened.

Based on its distribution, S. durbanica can be classified as a lowland species that is endemic to the "KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Belt" as part of the "Tongaland-Pondoland regional mosaic" sensu White (1983).

Figures

Figure 3. a. Shimbania wanjakinuthiaae sp. nov., holotype, male, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, ca. 5 km north of Hluhluwe, probably collected on Hluhluwe Farm; b. S. durbanica (Hampson, 1910), comb. nov., male, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, Durban; c. S. durbanica (Hampson, 1910), comb. nov., female, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, Durban; d. S. krooni sp. nov., holotype, male, Republic of South Africa, Province Eastern Cape, Port St. Johns; e. S. wichgrafi (Gruenberg, 1910), comb. nov., " Type ", male, Republic of South Africa, Province Gauteng, Pretoria or Johannesburg; f. S. nigeriaensis sp. nov., holotype, female, Nigeria, locality unknown, probably collected at the coast as " 1 m " on the label might represent the altitude.

Figure 10. A. Shimbania durbanica (Hampson, 1910) comb. nov., male, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, Stanger, with a well visible broad transtilla (a); B. S. krooni sp. nov., holotype, male, Republic of South Africa, Province Eastern Cape, Port St. Johns; C. S. durbanica (Hampson, 1910) comb. nov., female, Republic of South Africa, Province KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, including one fungus (b) in the thinly membranous corpus bursae, the thinly membranous ductus bursae (c) is among the longest in Metarbelidae.