Lukeniana robplowesi 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 : 34-35

Lukeniana robplowesi Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 6f , 12c

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C24FC5EB-5112-4927-93E5-FFAA6D6D98DB

Type locality and repository: Zamibia , the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi ( NMK) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Abercorn (now Mbala, Mbala District , Northern Province), September 1969, “I. R.L.C.S.” (= International Red Locust Control Service) leg., genitalia slide number 01/062016 I. Lehmann ( NMK).

Description. Male. Head: Yellow-ochre mixed with some sepia-coloured hair-like scales; long, dense hair-like scales between eyes; eyes brown with dark brown spots; antenna 0.46 length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 5.0 width of shaft, branches covered with cream-coloured scales laterally, shaft covered with cream-coloured scales dorsally; antennal tips not spatulate and with two long scales, bending towards apex; labial palpi ochre.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long hair-like cream-coloured scales mixed with sepia; a small cream-coloured crest on metathorax. Hindlegs not present in holotype specimen. Forewing length 14.0 mm (wingspan 31.5 mm). Forewing upperside pale cream-coloured mixed with ochre, glossy towards termen; costal margin without striae; termen with small lunules of faded sepia; terminal and subterminal lines pale sepia, sub-parallel, and comprising striae from near apex to dorsum; CuA 2 broadly marked pure white, edged broadly with sepia above; all remaining veins cream-coloured and hence not distinct from ground coloration; cilia long in forewing and hindwing, 1.3 mm, cream coloured, shiny. Underside of forewing roughly scaled with many fine hair-like cream-coloured glossy scales; costal margin ochre and without striae. Hindwing upperside cream coloured, glossy. Underside as in forewing.

Abdomen: Cream-coloured mixed with ochre, glossy; abdominal tuft short, one-fifth abdominal length. Genitalia ( Fig. 12c ) with uncus lobes almost rectangular, bearing short and long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus bent at middle (ventral view); gnathos arms broad, twice as broad as thorn-like process and 1.2 as long as basal width of valva; valva very long, 1.4 longer than one uncus lobe and rectangular, costa without setae; sacculus with few long setae; inner side of valva with short scattered setae, weakly-sclerotized projection setose and with rectangular tip longer than single thorn-like process below; the latter well developed, hollow, thick, bent and with few scattered long setae; short, rounded emargination extending 30% of length of valva between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process; ventral side of valva not bent at middle. Saccus broadly triangular, longer than width of its base, tip acuminate; ventral part of vinculum narrow, forming no plate. Juxta not longer than saccus, with two acuminate tips, each bearing a tiny process, between tips a deep emargination, 90% length of juxta. Phallus long, 1.3 as long as width of valva, not trumpet-like, not bent at middle, bilobed with a cleft at each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. The holotype is larger than L. mbalaensis and L. hausmanni , both of which might occur sympatrically with L. robplowesi in the vicinity of Mbala. The long, rectangular valvae are shared with L. hausmanni , and the thick gnathos arms are shared with L. mbalaensis . However, these species may be differentiated as follows: (i) the plate-like structure in L. mbalaensis opposite the saccus is absent in L. robplowesi ; (ii) the gnathos arms are broadest among the three species in L. robplowesi ; and (iii) the uncus lobes have nearly rectangular tips in L. robplowesi , but are triangular in L. hausmanni and rounded in L. mbalaensis (see diagnosis for both species). One character unique to L. robplowesi is the large triangular saccus with its acuminate tip. All three species that occur in the vicinity of Mbala have a well-developed thorn-like process.

Distribution. Lukeniana robplowesi is known from Mbala, northeast Zambia. The species can be classified an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana robplowesi is named in honour of Robert Merrick Plowes (born in Umtali in 1958), an important contributor to our understanding of African butterflies. He is an active naturalist who contributed to the second edition Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa ( Pringle et al. 1994) and the unpublished “Butterflies of Botswana ” by the late Torben Larsen. Rob was a founding member of the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa in 1983. We are grateful to Rob for his information about ‘Old Umtali’ ( Zimbabwe).

Figures

FIGURE 6. a. Lukeniana kammeri, holotype, male, Kenya, County Kiambu, Thika; b. L. mbalaensis, paratype, female, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; c. L. mbalaensis, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; d. L. hausmanni, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, 23 km southeast Mbala; e. L. lenzi, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mutinondo Wilderness Area; f. L. robplowesi, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; g. L. utaheidenreichae, holotype, male, Mozambique, Manica Province, Barr De Chikamba Real; h. L. stueningi, holotype, male, Zambia, Muchinga Province, Nyika National Park, Manyenjere Forest.

FIGURE 12. a. Lukeniana mzuzuensis, holotype, male, Malawi, Northern Region, Mzuzu, Nkhorongo; b. L. mbalaensis, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; c. L. robplowesi, holotype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mbala; d. L. hausmanni, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, 23 km southeast Mbala; e. L. lenzi, paratype, male, Zambia, Northern Province, Mutinondo Wilderness Area; f. L. stueningi, holotype, male, Zambia, Muchinga Province, Nyika National Park, Manyenjere Forest.