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
Author
Lehmann, Ingo
martin.husemann@uni-hamburg.de
Author
Zahiri, Reza
reza.zahiri@gmail.com
Author
Husemann, Martin
martin.husemann@uni-hamburg.de
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-04-18
5267
1
1
106
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5267.1.1
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5267.1.1
1175-5326
7840783
9CD59054-8D7D-413F-B9FD-29EAFE7E511D
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
.