Shimbania nigeriaensis, 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 nigeriaensis sp. nov.

Fig. 3f

Material examined.

Female , Holotype, Nigeria, no locality, "18.4.60 1m, H9" [18. April 1960 altitude 1 m?], J. [Jorgen] Birket-Smith [leg.], genitalia slide number 06/122008 I. Lehmann (ZMUC).

Description.

Head: deep olive-buff (without any chestnut colour), short scales with cream tips, slightly glossy; eyes dark olive without spots and surrounded by short 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; pits behind labial palpi are narrow oval-shaped holes; antenna short, 0.35 length of forewing, bipectinate, branches long, 3.0 × width of shaft, not scaled, all branches are widely separated at base, 1.5 × 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 scales of sepia with a light lilac glint. Metathorax with a crest of pale olive-buff scales mixed with ivory-yellow scales, with a small patch of sepia at center. Hind legs deep olive-buff with fine hair-like scales, some with light grey tips, on lower part of tarsus sepia dorsally; only one pair of narrow tibial spurs of unequal length present, ca. 1.5 mm and 1.2 mm long. Forewing length 23.0 mm and wingspan is 50.5 mm. Forewing upperside deep olive-buff with a light golden glint towards termen, costal margin not distinctly marked; below first 2/3 of 1A+2A a sepia patch with a light lilac glint; forewing largely without any dark olive lines, veins not distinctly marked, except CuA2 that is narrowly dark olive, but only weakly marked; a large, weak and dark olive “Y” -shaped subterminal patch, broadly oval-shaped, from R3 to near end of CuA2 with a short stalk; termen without lunules; cilia long, 1.2 mm, deep olive-buff with a glint. Underside of forewing is deep olive-buff with a golden glint. Hindwing upperside is pale olive-buff with a light golden glint and with few dark olive spots; cilia as in forewing; underside as in forewing.

Abdomen: deep olive-buff mixed with cream, glossy; abdominal tuft olive-buff, medium long, 1/4 length of abdomen. Postabdominal structure: 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 a broader dorsal edge, posterior margin with two rows of long setae (up to 85% 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 broad, short, 1.3 × longer than posterior apophysis, broader at base and with short extension ventrally, straight, slightly bent upwards towards end; posterior apophysis broad, with the same width as anterior apophysis, with a broader tip, the extremely large sclerotized base of the posterior apophysis is 40% the size of the papillae anales in lateral view. Ductus bursae unknown, but at its base is a narrow slightly sclerotized plate ventrally; corpus bursae unknown.

Diagnosis.

Shimbania nigeriaensis has a similar large wing size like most of the species presented herein from Kenya and Tanzania, but the postabdominal structure shares two characters with S. durbanica from the "KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Belt" in the Republic of South Africa, namely two rows of very long setae along the posterior margin of segment 8 and very small lobes of the papillae anales that are only as large as 20% of the papillae anales. The postabdominal structure can be separated from all other congeners by a narrow dorsal gap of segment 8 that is as long as 80% of the dorsal edge. Such a gap is absent in S. kerstinhempae sp. nov. and S. durbanica . Another unique character of S. nigeriaensis sp. nov. is that the hindlegs have only one pair of tibial spurs instead of two pairs.

Distribution.

If "1 m" represents the altitude of the collecting site in Nigeria it can be concluded that Shimbania nigeriaensis sp. nov. occurs locally along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. A typical forest type along the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean from Sierra Leone to western Gabon is "Hygrophilous coastal evergreen Guineo-Congolian rain forest" sensu White (1983). This forest type is characterized by a very high diversity of woody legumes of the Caesalpinioideae , e.g. Brachystegia cynometroides Harms and has a very rich and distinctive endemic flora, e.g. Sacoglottis gabonensis (Baill.) Urb. ( Humiriaceae ). The average annual rainfall of more than 2000 mm, locally more than 3000 mm, is very high for the habitat. A common character with the habitat of S. durbanica is the absence of an entirely rain-free period (although the average rainfall is much lower with 989 mm, cf. above).

Based on its distribution, S. nigeriaensis sp. nov. can be classified as a lowland species that is most probably endemic to the "Hygrophilous coastal evergreen Guineo-Congolian rain forest".

Etymology.

Shimbania nigeriaensis is named for the country Nigeria.

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.