Lukeniana rajaeii 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 : 18-19

Lukeniana rajaeii Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Figs 3e , 10b , 13d

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:318C7422-38B6-47CD-ACA9-57EA7B67CB32

Type locality and repository: Ethiopia, the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart , Germany ( SMNS) .

Material examined. Holotype male, Ethiopia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (during the 1960s until 1995 Gamu Gofa Province), today Gamo Gofa administrative zone, formerly Semien Omo (= North Omo ) zone, Gidole , 0534′ N (correct: 0538′–0539′ N), 3726′ E (correct: 3721′ E), 2,200 m, 23 February–05 March 1960, W. Richter leg., no genitalia dissection done ( SMNS) . Paratypes: one male, Ethiopia, same data as holotype, genitalia slide number 23/052015 I. Lehmann ( SMNS) ; one male (the largest and most intact specimen and described/figured herein), Ethiopia, same data as holotype, genitalia slide number 26/082015 I. Lehmann ( SMNS) .

Description (based on largest paratype). Male. Head: Honey-yellow, shiny, with long hair-like scales on the lower part of the frons; eyes vinaceous brown with small black spots; antenna unusually long (0.50-0.53 length of forewing), bipectinate, with branches 4.5 width of shaft, branches and shaft covered with cream-coloured scales dorsally; antennal tips with slightly longer scales, bent towards apex; labial palpi honey yellow.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with shiny, long hair-like scales of honey-yellow mixed with ochre and cream with few small patches of sepia. Metathorax with small crest of cream-coloured scales. Hindlegs yellow ochre mixed with sepia, with fine shiny hair-like scales; one pair of narrow tibial spurs present, outer spur 1.0 mm, inner spur 0.9 mm. Forewing length of holotype 15.0 mm (wingspan 31.5 mm), of paratypes 15.5 mm and 14.0 mm (wingspan 32.5 and 29.5 mm). Forewing upperside light honey yellow, not glossy; a broad white band below CuA 2, twice as broad as sepia band above, extending from near base of forewing to CuA 2 and dorsum; costa from base of wing along half its length honey-yellow with few weak striae of sepia; a faded terminal line almost parallel along termen, subterminal line and postmedial line dark ochre, almost continuous from costa to CuA 2 and slightly bent towards base of wing between R 5 and M 2; veins not distinctly coloured; cilia long, 1.2 mm, cream-coloured, shiny; lunules faded or absent along termen. Underside of forewing rough-scaled, cream-coloured, without striae, glossy; only costal margin darker, honey-yellow mixed with few sepia striae. Hindwing upperside and cilia light cream, glossy, 1.2 mm long. Underside light cream, costa light ochre without striae.

Abdomen: Mainly honey-yellow mixed with cream, shiny; abdominal tuft short and less than one-third of abdomen length. Genitalia ( Fig. 13d ) one of the largest of any congener. Uncus subrectangular, outer edge slightly C-shaped near basal edge, inner edge rounded at base, lobes densely covered with short setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus bent at middle; gnathos arms slightly longer than width of valva, not touching coastal margin of valva, bent towards uncus and connected posteriorly with a thin membrane, probably not chitinized; valva broadly rectangular, costa nearly straight but bent upward at middle, semi-transtilla subrectangular, without setae; sacculus with few short setae; weakly-sclerotized projection with short setae, broad rounded tip slightly longer than short thorn-like process below; thorn-like process appearing reduced and slightly curved upward, hollow, tip rounded, no dots, without tiny setae, its base 0.7 as broad as weakly-sclerotized projection above, and without a second thorn-like process; median sector of valva with very few short setae on inner side; short, broad, ovoid emargination extending between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process, ca. 25% length of valva; ventral side of valva not bent at middle. Saccus half as large as juxta, finger-shaped with a rounded tip; vinculum very broad, plate-like, opposite saccus (plate-like structure 12 x larger than saccus). Juxta narrow, tall (1.5 as tall as width of juxta) with two acuminate tips, emargination between tips very deep, 90% length of juxta. Phallus short, as long as width of valva, slightly trumpet-like, bent near middle, bilobed with a cleft on each end.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Lukeniana rajaeii has two unique character states: each lobe of the uncus has a nearly equally broad basal edge and upper edge and hence, the lobe has an rectangular shape; and the upper width of the uncus lobe is the broadest, if compared to all congeners, with ca. 80% of width of valva in ventral view. Other diagnostic characters include: the thorn-like process is thick and much reduced in its length, it is the shortest in the genus; and the thornlike process has a broader base, but strongly reduced since it is only 0.7 as broad as the weakly-sclerotized projection above, hence this base is the smallest among the genus. L. raymondrevellii shares character states with L. rajaeii due to the rectangular shape of the uncus and valvae, and due to the thorn-like process that is less pronounced, representing a somewhat transitional character state. Hence, both species share a less developed, thorn-like process that is weakly sclerotized in L. raymondrevellii , but slightly stronger sclerotized in L. rajaeii . Major differences between the species are the lower half of the vein of the anterior cell, that always occurs between M 1 and M 2 in the hindwing, is not obsolete in the holotype and in the paratypes of L. rajaeii ; the aedeagus is broad and short, not longer than the width of valva in L. rajaeii , but narrow and ca. 20% longer than the width of valva in L. raymondrevellii ; the basal edge of one uncus lobe is ca. 1.9 longer than the upper edge of the same uncus lobe in the latter species but of almost equal length in L. rajaeii ; the ventral end of the gnathos arms is much narrower if compared to the basal width of the gnathos arms in L. raymondrevellii but the ventral end is broader in L. rajaeii ; the inner side of the gnathos arms is cut in L. raymondrevellii ; and the thorn-like process is narrow and has an acuminate tip in the latter species but is broad with a rounded tip in L. rajaeii .

Distribution. Lukeniana rajaeii is known from Gidole on the southern Ethiopian Plateau, ca. 10 km southwest of the southern tip of Lake Chamo and ca. 150 km north from the frontier to Kenya. Gidole (elevation 1,852 –2,259 m) is located within the Southern Main Ethiopian Rift (SMER) sensu Keranen & Klemperer (2008) and in the “high rainfall interval” of 1332–2331 mm of the physiographic unit Southwestern Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands sensu Friis (1992). Lukeniana rajaeii can be classified as an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. The new species is named in honor of Hossein Rajaei Shoorcheh, Lepidoptera curator and researcher at the State Museum of Natural History, Stuttgart. The first author is grateful to Hossein for significant help during studies for his doctoral dissertation on Metarbelidae at the ZFMK, Bonn.

Figures

FIGURE 3. a. Lukeniana enaiposha, holotype, male, Kenya, Rift Valley Province, near Lake Naivasha; b. L. obliqualinea, male, Kenya, County Nairobi, Nairobi; c. L. obliqualinea, female, Kenya, County Nairobi, Loresho Ridge; d. L. raymondrevellii, holotype, male, Namibia, Otjozondjupa Region, Ozombanda; e. L. rajaeii, paratype, male, Ethiopia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’Region, Gidole; f. L. tubiraensis, holotype, male, Tanzania, Kigoma Region, Tubira Forest.

FIGURE 10. An intact CuP vein on the forewing is a plesiomorphy (cf. Fig. 9) and occurs only in basal Metarbelidae in northeastern parts of the Republic of South Africa, mainly on the Southern African Plateau, and on the plateau area of Mount Mulanje, only 90 km to the North of the Zambezi River (Lehmann 2019b). Figured are examples of apomorphies in regard to the CuP on forewing (red arrows): a. CuP absent, CuP fold is weak but not continuous in Lukeniana michaelgrzimeki, female, paratype; b. The CuP fold is almost entirely absent in L. rajaeii, male, paratype; c. Zambezia darrelplowesi, female, holotype and d. Z. madambae, male, paratype, both have a strong CuP fold, continuous and partly sclerotized. Images were taken by Dr. Hossein Rajaei (SMNS) in November 2015.

FIGURE 13. a. Lukeniana enaiposha, holotype, male, Kenya, Rift Valley Province, near Lake Naivasha; b. L. obliqualinea, male, Kenya, County Nairobi, Nairobi; c. L. raymondrevellii, holotype, male, Namibia, Otjozondjupa Region, Ozombanda; d. L. rajaeii, paratype, male, Ethiopia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’Region, Gidole; e. L. tubiraensis, holotype, male, Tanzania, Kigoma Region, Tubira Forest; f. L. lutztoepferi, holotype, male, Kenya, County Nairobi, Ololua Forest.