Lukeniana mzuzuensis Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Lehmann, Ingo
name: Zahiri, Reza
name: Husemann, Martin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Metarbelidae
Lukeniana
Lukeniana mzuzuensis

description: Lukeniana mzuzuensis Lehmann, Zahiri & Husemann sp. nov.   
Figs 5e, 5f, 12a, 11d 1, 11d 2  
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: D75642D2-177A-4F17-B360-60FCE204FF4E  
Type locality and repository: Malawi, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB / ZFMK).  
 Material examined. Holotype male, Malawi, Northern Region, Mzimba District, Mzuzu, Nkhorongo, 1.375 m, 12 October 2009, R. J. Murphy leg., genitalia slide number 20/032012 I. Lehmann (ZFMK). Paratypes: two females, Malawi, Northern Region, Mzimba District, same locality and elevation, 17 October 2009, R. J. Murphy leg., genitalia slide numbers 05/052012 I.Lehmann (ZFMK), 55/052013 Dr. D. Stüning (ZFMK); 14 males from Nkho-rongo (same elevation and collector): male, 25 October 2008, genitalia slide number 28/102015 I.Lehmann, male, 27 October 2008 (author’s collection); one male, 12 October 2009 (ZMA); three males, 29 October 2009, one male dissected, genitalia slide number 05/092014 I. Lehmann (ZMFK); two males, 31 October 2009 (ZMA); one male, 07 November 2011 (NRM); male, 08 November 2011, genitalia slide number 14/092014 I. Lehmann (NHMUK); male, 31 October 2012, genitalia slide number 22/072013 I. Lehmann (ZMUC); male, 03 November 2013, genitalia slide number 21/092014 I. Lehmann (SMNS); male, 08 November 2013, genitalia slide number 15/092014 I. Lehmann (ZMH); male, 29 October 1997 genitalia slide number 18/092012 I. Lehmann (author’s collection).   
 Description. Male. Head: Cream-coloured and mixed with some sepia, shiny, hair-like scales; long, dense hair-like scales between eyes; eyes brown with large black patches; antenna 0.50 length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches 4.5 width of shaft, branches covered with cream-coloured scales laterally, shaft covered with creamcoloured scales dorsally; antennal tips slightly spatulate with two long scales, bending towards apex; labial palpi cream-ochre.   
 Thorax: Patagia and tegulae with shiny and long hair-like scales of cream-ochre mixed with sepia; a small crest of cream-coloured scales mixed with ivory-yellow on metathorax. Hindlegs yellow ochre with fine hair-like scales, shiny; one pair of narrow, long tibial spurs present, outer spur ca. 1.1 mm, inner spur ca. 0.9 mm. Forewing length of holotype 13.0 mm (wingspan 29.0 mm). Forewing upperside ochre and contrasting; costal margin and entire forewing with sepia coloured striae; termen with small lunules of sepia; terminal line and subterminal line of sepia extending from near apex to dorsum; CuA 2 very broad and ivory-yellow, edged sepia above; all remaining veins ochre and hence not distinctly coloured except 1A+2A sepia (less visible in females); cilia long, 1.2 mm, creamcoloured, shiny. Underside of forewing roughly scaled, ivory-yellow, glossy; costal margin with few striae of dark ochre; terminal and subterminal lines concolorous with striae. Hindwing upperside and cilia ivory-yellow, glossy, cilia long, 1.2 mm; underside as in forewing but without striae.   
 Abdomen: Mainly olive and cream-coloured, shiny; abdominal tuft short, one-fourth abdominal length. Genitalia (Fig. 12a) with uncus lobes bearing rounded tips, both short and long setae ventrally, basal edge of uncus bent at middle (ventral view); gnathos arms long, 1.3 longer than basal width of valva; valvae ovoid, broad at base, costa with few setae; sacculus with a few long setae; weakly-sclerotized projection densely setose, with rectangular tip, and slightly longer than single thorn-like process below; the latter hollow and with few scattered setae; median sector of valva with some long setae on inner side; an elongate emargination extending between weakly-sclerotized projection and thorn-like process, 40–50% of length of valva; ventral side of valva slightly bent at middle. Saccus short, stoutly finger-shaped, opposite saccus a broader vinculum forming a small chitinized rectangular plate. Juxta as long as saccus with two acuminate tips, each with a short process, between tips a deep emargination 90% of length of juxta. Phallus long, 1.2 as long as width of valva, not trumpet-like, bent at middle, weakly bilobate with a cleft at each end.   
 Female. Head: Essentially as described for male, except antenna 0.31 length of forewing, unipectinate, with branches 1.5 width of shaft, shaft scaled dorsally, branches not scaled; antennal tips very short, not bending towards apex; forewing length 16.5 mm (wingspan 36.0 mm).   
 Thorax: Essentially as described for male, except, forewing upperside lighter and less contrasting than in male. Both terminal and subterminal lines more faded than in males. Subterminal line not slightly bent towards base of wing at outer half of M 2. Distinctness of sepia coloration of 1A+2A less visible than in male.   
 Abdomen. Genitalia (Figs 11d 1, 11d 2) with papillae anales broad, 8-shaped in posterior-dorsal view, densely covered with long and short setae. Segment 8 with few scattered setae along posterior margin and two narrow lateroventral sclerotized plates or bands; inner plate with an acuminate end, outer plate with a rectangular end; broader plate covering ca. 35% of width of ventral side of segment 8. Dorso-anterior margin of abdominal plate without an emargination. Posterior apophyses straight, almost twice as broad at base as width of anterior apophyses, the broader part extending to half of length of anterior apophyses, posteriorly with a narrow thorn-like projection and a uneven dorsal edge. Anterior apophyses slightly sinuate, slightly longer than posterior apophyses. Ductus and corpus bursae broad, thinly membranous, without any distinct characters; corpus bursae rounded in shape, 1.2 as long as anterior apophyses.   
 Diagnosis. The closest related species in the genus Lukeniana is unknown. On the basis of the contrasting colouration of the forewing, with its broad, white CuA 2, L. mzuzuensis resembles Zambezia jennyhuntae, indicating that the wing colouration cannot be used alone in the field do distinguish species of both genera, particularly where species of both genera occur sympatric in the Zambezian regional centre of endemism. For example, L. mzuzuensis can be easily distinguished by the CuP vein of the forewing present only as a weak, discontinuous fold, rather than the strong, continuous, tubular fold of Z. jennyhuntae. The male genitalia of L. mzuzuensis have at least four diagnostic characters: (i) the ventral side of the valva is slightly bent at middle; (ii) the emargination of the valva is long, 40–50% of the length of valva; (iii) the thorn-like process is well developed; and (iv) the sacculus is broad, at least one-third the width of the valva. The female post-abdominal structure of L. mzuzuensis has two diagnostic characters: (i) a latero-ventral plate covers only 35% of the ventral side of segment 8; and (ii) the posterior apophyses have a short thorn-like process at their posterior end.   
 Distribution. Lukeniana mzuzuensis is known from Nkhorongo in northern Malawi. Nkhorongo is a suburb of Mzuzu (elevation 1,255 –1,323 m) located ca. 38 km west of the Malawi Rift as part of the EARS and in the Zambezian regional centre of endemism (sensu White 1983) (Fig. 20c). Lukeniana mzuzuensis is considered an Afromontane linking species.   
 Habitat. See Appendix 1.   
 Etymology. Lukeniana mzuzuensis is named after the type locality of Mzuzu, Malawi.
description: Published as part of 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, pp. 1-106 in Zootaxa 5267 (1) on pages 31-33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5267.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7840783