Lukeniana kakamegaensis 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 : 46

Lukeniana kakamegaensis Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 7f , 17e urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:F7778641-50D2-43B4-A0C5-C8C24B64B2F1

Type locality and repository: Kenya, the Zoological State Collection , Munich ( ZSM) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Kenya, Kakamega (Kakamega District, Western Province ), 19 August 1973, Dr. H. Politzar leg., genitalia slide number 17/082014 I. Lehmann ( ZSM).

Description. Male. Head: Ochre with sepia, glossy, long hair-like scales of honey yellow between eyes; eyes brown with black patches; antenna 0.50× length of forewing, bipectinate, concolorous with head, with branches 4.0× width of shaft, branches and shaft covered with ochre scales dorsally; antennal tips with long scales, bending towards apex; labial palpi sepia.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long hair-like ochre scales mixed with sepia, glossy. Small ivory-yellow metathoracic crest. Hindlegs yellow ochre with fine hair-like scales, glossy; one pair of narrow tibial spurs present, outer spur ca. 1.0 mm, inner spur 0.9 mm. Forewing length 15.0 mm (wingspan 32.0 mm). Forewing upperside honeyyellow, glossy; costa without striae; a few striae of sepia parallel to termen; CuA 2 pure white, broad, edged sepia above; remaining veins not distinctly coloured; cilia long, 1.2 mm, ivory-yellow, shiny; sepia lunules small and pale on terminus of veins. Underside of forewing roughly scaled near base of wing, cream-coloured, sepia along costal margin, glossy. Hindwing upperside and cilia ivory-yellow, glossy; underside as in forewing but costal margin not distinctly coloured.

Abdomen: Ivory yellow, glossy; abdominal tuft short and less than one-fifth abdominal length. Genitalia ( Fig. 17e ) with rounded uncus lobes, bearing both short and long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus not bent at middle; gnathos arms short, roughly equal to basal width of valva, and sharply bent towards uncus; valva narrow, ovoid, costa without setae; sacculus with long setae; weakly-sclerotized projection very short, not reaching middle of thorn-like process, with long setae, tip rectangular; thorn-like process thick, long, extending slightly beyond costa, sharply bent and well developed, hollow, tip acuminate with no setae; median sector of inner valva with long setae forming two or three rows from middle of valva towards long, ovoid emargination extending 50% of length of valva between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process; ventral side of valva only slightly bent at base of thorn-like process (best visible in lateral view). Saccus triangular, broad (1.3× width of juxta). Juxta longer than broad with two acuminate tips without a process at each tip, emargination between tips extending 90% of length of juxta. Phallus not trumpet-like and longer than width of valva, sharply bent near middle, bilobed with a cleft at each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Lukeniana kakamegaensis is most similar to L. obliqualinea but can be differentiated as follows: saccus slightly shorter than the juxta in L. kakamegaensis , but 1.2–1.3× longer than juxta in L. obliqualinea ; and in L. kakamegaensis , the weakly sclerotized projection is the shortest of all Lukeniana , not extending to the middle of the thorn-like process, whereas in L. obliqualinea the projection extends towards the tip of the thorn-like process and bears fewer long setae. More significant differences between these species are: (i) the shape of the valva, which is ovoid with a broad base in L. obliqualinea , but rectangular in L. kakamegaensis ; (ii) the uncus, which has rounded lobes in L. kakamegaensis and rectangular lobes in L. obliqualinea ; (iii) the presence of a second thorn at the base of the thorn-like process in L. kakamegaensis that is absent in L. obliqualinea ; and (iv) the juxta, which is elongate in L. kakamegaensis , but broad and short in L. obliqualinea .

Distribution. Lukeniana kakamegaensis is known only from Kakamega (elevation 1,520 ‒1,680 m; average annual rainfall 1956–2215 mm), which is located ca. 47 km north of Lake Victoria, ca. 50 km southeast of Mount Elgon, and ca. 250 km northwest of Nairobi, in southwestern Kenya. The town lies on the western side of Kakamega Forest ca. 7 km from the nearest point of the main forest block (8,537 ha in size). The area belongs to the Lake Victoria regional mosaic (sensu White 1983) and to the Victoria Basin Forest-Savanna Mosaic (sensu Burgess et al. 2004). Lukeniana kakamegaensis can be classified as an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Lukeniana kakamegaensis is named after the type loclity of Kakamega Forest, West Kenya.

Figures

FIGURE 7. a. Lukeniana georgeadamsoni, holotype, male, Kenya, Eastern Province, Game Ranch of Dr. David Hopcraft, 1.5 km west from the Lukenia Hills; b. L. mikerobertsi, holotype, male, Kenya, County Laikipia, Lolldaiga Hills Ranch and Wildlife Conservancy, “Kambi ya Simba”; c. L. mikerobertsi, paratype, male, Kenya, County Laikipia, Mpala Research Centre, Site 1; d. L. mikerobertsi, paratype, female,

FIGURE 17. a. Lukeniana utaheidenreichae, holotype, male, Mozambique, Manica Province, Barr De Chikamba Real; b. L. georgeadamsoni, holotype, male, Kenya, Eastern Province, Game Ranch of Dr. David Hopcraft, 1.5 km west from the Lukenia Hills; c. L. mikerobertsi, holotype, male, Kenya, County Laikipia, Lolldaiga Hills Ranch and Wildlife Conservancy, “Kambi ya Simba”; d. L. andreashempi, holotype, male, Tanzania, Arusha Region, Mount Meru; e. L. kakamegaensis, holotype, male, Kenya, Western Province, Kakamega; f. L. jankiellandi, holotype, male, Tanzania, Katavi Region, Luega village.