Lukeniana stevecollinsi 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 : 51-52

Lukeniana stevecollinsi Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 8f , 14c

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:FEA6195B-6373-49E1-A020-B45FD8D974D0

Type locality and repository: Malawi, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig , Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change ( LIB / ZFMK) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Malawi, Northern Region, Rumphi District, 3 km north from Thazima Gate, 10°49′S 33°35′ E, Nyika National Park , 1,700 m, 15 October 2012, R. J. Murphy leg., genitalia slide number 21/072013 I. Lehmann ( ZFMK) . Paratypes: two males, same locality, date, and collector, genitalia slide number 14/092013 I. Lehmann ( NMK) and one male with no genitalia dissection (in first author’s collection).

Description. Male. Head: Pale ochre, glossy; eyes brown with large black spots; antenna 0.50× length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 6.0× width of shaft, shaft and branches densely covered with pale ochre scales dorsally; antennal tips not spatulate, long scales bending towards apex; labial palpi pale ochre.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae densely scaled ochre, glossy. A small light ochre crest on metathorax. Hindlegs ochre with fine hair-like scales, shiny; one pair of narrow tibial spurs of unequal length, outer spur ca. 1.0 mm, inner spur ca. 0.7 mm. Forewing length of holotype 14.0 mm (wingspan 30.0 mm). Forewing ground colour pale ochraceous-salmon (a pale pinkish-ochre in fresh specimens seen before spreading the wings) mixed with ivory-yellow, glossy; costal margin without striae; terminal, subterminal and postmedial lines of forewing reduced to sepia coloured spots between veins from near apex to CuA 2; faded striae of sepia at ends of veins along termen; CuA 2 with unsually broad white band, as broad as space between CuA 2 and CuA 1 in all three males, edged by a narrower band of sepia above; remaining veins not distinctly coloured; cilia long, 1.1 mm, ivory-yellow, glossy. Underside ivory-yellow, ochre along costa, rough-scaled near base of wing, glossy. Hindwing upperside ivory-yellow, glossy; cilia and underside as in forewing, but costal margin not distinctly coloured.

Abdomen: Light ochre mixed with sepia, glossy; abdominal tuft ca. 30% of abdomen length. Genitalia ( Fig. 14c ) with uncus lobes bearing broadly rounded tips, densely covered with long and short setae ventrally; gnathos arms very long, touching upper edge of juxta; valva elongate and rectangular with slightly broader base, costa without setae, sacculus with few long setae near base of thorn-like process; weakly-sclerotized projection setose, with a rectangular tip longer than single thorn-like process below; the latter thick, as broad as sacculus and hollow with an acuminate tip without setae; median sector of valva with short setae on inner valva, forming four or five rows from base of valva towards an ovoid emargination extending 35% of length of valva between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process; ventral side of valva not bent at middle. Saccus short, finger-shaped with broader base and a fold at middle. Juxta broad, much larger than saccus, with two acuminated tips, each bearing a short process, between tips a deep emargination (90% of length of juxta). Phallus almost one-third longer than width of valva, not trumpet-like, bent near middle, bilobed with a cleft at each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Lukeniana stevecollinsi resembles L. carolae and L. mzuzuensis . Although the shape of uncus and the thorn-like process of the valva are similar in L. stevecollinsi and L. carolae , L. carolae can be easily distinguished from L. stevecollinsi by the short valva (not longer than outer edge of one uncus lobe) and the half-hand-like end of the gnathos arms. Lukeniana stevecollinsi can be distinguished from L. mzuzuensis by the much higher forewing colour contrast and darker forewing pattern in the latter species. L. mzuzuensis also has a narrower thorn-like process and ovoid valvae, ca. 1.2× longer than the outer edge of the uncus lobe. Lukeniana stevecollinsi has more elongate, rectangular valvae, only slightly broader at the base, and a C-shaped outer edge of the uncus lobe. Diagnostic characters of L. stevecollinsi include the elongate and rectangular valvae ca. 1.3× longer than the outer edge of the uncus lobe; and the forewing vein CuA 2 with an unsually broad white band, as broad as the space between CuA 2 and CuA 1, on a pale ochraceous-salmon ground colour (in all three males examined).

Distribution. Lukeniana stevecollinsi is known from north of Thazima Gate (Nyika National Park) ca. 68 km west of Lake Malawi and the Malawi Rift. The Nyika Plateau (elevation up to 2,607 m) is the largest of several isolated upland areas in Malawi. Lukeniana stevecollinsi can be classified as an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana stevecollinsi is named in honour of Steve Collins, founding Director of the African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI) in Karen (Nairobi). The first author is very grateful for the financial support provided by ABRI for his publications in the journal Metamorphosis in 2000 and 2001, and to Steve for advice, unforgettable days at his house, and the opportunity to conduct light-trapping at ABRI, together with Shimoni (the son of I.L.) in March 2015.

Figures

FIGURE 8. a. Lukeniana jankiellandi, holotype, male, Tanzania, Katavi Region, Luega village; b. L. bergsteni, paratype, male, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro Region, Mount Kilimanjaro, Kibonoto; c. L. bergsteni, paratype, male, Tanzania, Arusha Region, Usa River; d. L. bergsteni, paratype, female, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro Region, Mount Kilimanjaro, Kibonoto; e. L. carolae, holotype, male, Malawi, Central Region, Mount Ntchisi, Ntchisi Forest Reserve; f. L. stevecollinsi, holotype, male, Malawi, Northern Region, Nyika Plateau, Nyika National Park, near Thazima Gate.

FIGURE 14. a. Lukeniana bergsteni, paratype, male, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro Region, Mount Kilimanjaro, Kibonoto; b. L. carolae, holotype, male, Malawi, Central Region, Mount Ntchisi, Ntchisi Forest Reserve; c. L. stevecollinsi, holotype, male, Malawi, Northern Region, Nyika Plateau, Nyika National Park, near Thazima Gate; d. L. butleri, paratype, male, Zimbabwe, Harare Province, Harare, “Fawlty Towers”; e. L. kollhorsti, holotype, male, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Busi Farm; f. Zambezia diredaouaensis, holotype, male, Ethiopia, Harar Plateau, Dire Daua, today: chartered city of Dire Dawa.