Zambezia durrellbarnesi 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 : 65-69

Zambezia durrellbarnesi Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.

Fig. 1b

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BD801712-7628-4C15-BF3F-82E3C6B96D61

Type locality and repository: Zimbabwe, the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo ( NMZB) .

Material examined. Holotype female, S. Rhodesia (‘ Southern Rhodesia’ , today Zimbabwe), Vumba (Manicaland Province), 25.October.1949, B. D. Barnes leg., “Nat. Museum S. Rhodesia”, “Access. No. 4484”, genitalia slide number 15/082015 I.Lehmann ( NMZB).

The first author assumes that the holotype was collected on “Sambenyara Farm” of Bertram Durrell Barnes situated east from the “Witchwood Valley” (cf. habitat description below).

Description. Male. Unknown.

Female. Head: Honey-yellow mixed with cream, shiny; long, ochre, hair-like scales between compound eyes; eyes vinaceous with many black patches; antenna 0.34× length of forewing, mostly unipectinate, bipectinate towards tip, with branches 1.3× width of shaft, covered with cream-coloured scales dorsally, cream-coloured scales on branches; antennal tips bending slightly towards apex; labial palpi honey yellow.

Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with long hair-like scales of ochre and pale cream, shiny; small pale cream scale crest on metathorax, glossy. Hindlegs yellow ochre with fine hair-like scales, shiny, with a pair of narrow tibial spurs of unequal length, outer spur 1.0 mm, inner spur 0.7 mm long. Forewing length of holotype 17.5 mm (wingspan 39.0 mm). Forewing upperside ground colour pale ochre with dark ochre coloured lines and striae, slightly glossy; a broad white band below CuA 2, narrowly edged with faded sepia above; five more or less continuous lines of faint sepia, straight, originating near costa, terminating at CuA 1 or below; costa honey-yellow without striae; veins not distinctly coloured; cilia long, 1.1 mm, ochre at tip, pale cream towards base; faint sepia spots at ends of veins along termen. Forewing underside rough-scaled, cream, without striae along costa, lacking lines, slightly glossy, costal margin darker, honey yellow. Hindwing upperside cream, glossy; cilia as in forewing, costa of underside honey yellow, all veins slightly darker.

Abdomen: Honey-yellow mixed with cream, glossy; abdominal tuft one-third of abdomen length. Genitalia with papillae anales narrow, dorsal part 8-shaped in posterior view, densely setose with long and short setae. Segment 8 with two rows of long setae extending from dorsal part towards base of posterior apophyses; long setae scattered along posterior margin on its entire surface, with few setae near base of anterior apophyses; two broad latero-ventral sclerotized bands, fused along its posterior margin (in posterior view) and separated along its anterior margin (in anterior view), with a trianguloid shape and acuminate end towards base of anterior apophysis. Bands covering ca. 40% of ventral side of segment 8. Dorso-anterior margin of abdominal plate entire, without emargination. Posterior apophysis straight with a broader base, namely 1.6× broader than width of anterior apophysis and with a rectangular tip. Anterior apophyses strongly bent at middle with ovoid tips. Posterior apophyses slightly longer than anterior apophyses. Ductus bursae and corpus bursae thinly membranous without distinct processes; corpus brusae as broad as width of segment 8, and not pear-shaped

Diagnosis. The forewing venation of Z. durrellbarnesi is similar to that of Metarbelodes umtaliana and Z. jennyhuntae , with all three species sharing the following characters: (i) an areole of medium size, not as large as upper half of cell (as in Z. madambae ); (ii) vein R 2 not separated from R 3 +R 4; and (iii) CuP vein represented by a strong and continuous fold, but appears as an intact vein from the wing base towards the dorsum. The latter character is also shared with Z. madambae and Z. darrelplowesi . In the female postabdominal structure, one character separates Z. durrellbarnesi from the females of all other known species: the anterior apophyses are strongly bent downwards at middle (see diagnosis of Z. darrelplowesi ).

Distribution. Zambezia durrellbarnesi is known from the Bvumba Mountains ( Zimbabwe). The Bvumba (the Shona name for mist) or Vumba Mountains (elevation 1.911 m at Castle Beacon) ( Fig. 23b ) are ca. 200 km 2 in size and together with the Chimanimani (2.440 m) and Nyanga (2.592 m) ranges belong to the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe that are geologically much older than the adjacent Southern African Plateau. The Bvumba Mountains belong to the Afromontane archipelago-like regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983), and Z. durrellbarnesi can be classified an Afromontane near-endemic species.

Habitat. See Appendix 1.

Etymology. Zambezia durrellbarnesi is named after the collector of the holotype, the late Bertram Durrell Barnes (1888–1969). Durrell and his late wife Jessie made the most extensive collection of moths from the Bvumba Mountains, collecting at light-traps on their “Sambenyara Farm” almost every night since 1934. Most of their specimens are today in the collections of the NMZB ( Pinhey 1977).

Figures

FIGURE 1. a. Zambezia jennyhuntae, holotype, male, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Mutare (formerly Umtali); b. Z. durrellbarnesi, holotype, female, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Bvumba Mountains; c. Z. darrelplowesi, holotype, female, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Mutare (formerly Umtali), Hospital (today Kopje House); d. Metarbelodes umtaliana, holotype, male, Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province, Old Umtali or Umtali (today Mutare).

FIGURE 23. a. Habitat of Zambezia jennyhuntae: The nearly evenly aged structure of the tree layer in a drier type of open miombo woodland dominated by Julbernardia globiflora (Benth.) Troupin (Caesalpiniaceae) and Brachystegia spiciformis Benth. (Caesalpiniaceae) close to Marondera (Zimbabwe) is due to anthropogenic activity since 1929. The young stand in the image is the result of protection of the miombo since the late 1960s. Photo by Rhett Butler (Harare), October 2015. b. Habitat of Zambezia durrellbarnesi: View from the summit of the Bvumba Mountains taken from Castle Beacon (1.911 m) in May 1969 by the late botanist Darrel Plowes (Mutare, Zimbabwe). Beyond the flowering Aloe arborescens Mill. (Aloaceae) (right) is the Burma Valley below and on the southeast side, the high hill in the middle distance is Leopard Rock, a so called “granite bornhardt”. Where the high Bvumba ground drops sharply down into the Burma Valley (730–880 m, both part of the post-African surface developing since 30–25 Ma) in the right centre of the picture, the Witchwood Valley forest or Bungu Forest, begins. The forests seen towards the Burma Valley and Leopard Rock are mixed submontane forests with the highest tree species diversity recorded for Zimbabwe (Müller 2006). Within a few kilometers an older erosion surface (possibly African Surface) may be preserved on Castle Beacon (Lister 1987; Andy Moore pers. com. to I.L. in 2016). The row of hills in the background forms the border with Mozambique and still belongs geomorphologically to the Bvumba Mountains.