Shimbania baginerichardi, Lehmann & Dalsgaard, 2023

Lehmann, Ingo & Dalsgaard, Thure, 2023, Revision of Saalmulleria Mabille, 1891 (Lepidoptera, Metarbelidae) from Madagascar with the description of three new genera and fifteen new species, Evolutionary Systematics 7 (1), pp. 133-182 : 133

Shimbania baginerichardi sp. nov.

Figs 1a , 8a

Material examined.

Holotype, male, Kenya, [South] Coast, [Kwale County], Shimba Hills [National Reserve], April 1964, R.H. Carcasson leg., genitalia slide number 16/012009 I. Lehmann (NMK) . Paratype, male, same locality, December 1961, R.H. Carcasson leg., genitalia slide number 03/102005 I. Lehmann (NMK) .

Selection of type species.

Shimbania baginerichardi sp. nov. has been selected as type species of the new genus Shimbania because of the comprehensive area knowledge of I.L. that is based on several field trips undertaken by I.L., some with the botanist Quentin Luke (Nairobi), into the forests of the Shimba Hills in connection with the long-term field studies on forest structure, floristic diversity and plant species dominance as well as Lepidoptera diversity that were undertaken by I.L. in collaboration with the NMK over a period of 14 years (1994-2007) in five coastal forests that are located to the East and to the Southeast of the Shimba Hills in a distance of 9-15 km to the latter with a distance to the Indian Ocean of 100 m-5.5 km. These lowland forests are compared with the habitat of the holotype and paratype; comprising Kaya Muhaka, Kaya Kinondo, Kaya Diani (cf. Lehmann 1997, 1998; Lehmann and Kioko 2000, 2005; Lehmann 2020) as well as Gogoni Forest Reserve and Shimoni Forest (Lehmann unpubl. data collected in 2001-2007).

Description.

Male. Head: with dense, short hair-like scales of dark chestnut between and around compound eyes; eyes olive-brown without spots; a pair of tiny rudimentary pits is present on lower fronto-clypeus; pits behind labial palpi are absent; antenna 0.30 length of forewing, bipectinate, with branches of 3.5 × width of shaft, branches not scaled and shaft densely scaled, ivory-yellow dorsally; labial palpi chestnut.

Thorax: Patagia olive-cream, forming a collar ring; tegulae with long hair-like dark chestnut scales with a vinaceous glint. Metathorax with small crest of olive-cream scales, crest dark chestnut at center. Hind legs olive-cream with fine hair-like scales, on lower part of tarsus dark chestnut dorsally; two pairs of long tibial spurs of unequal width and length, upper pair narrow ca. 1.5 mm and 1.4 mm, lower pair broader ca. 1.0 mm and 1.2 mm long. Forewing length 21.5 mm and wingspan 50.0 mm in holotype (wingspan 51.0 mm in paratype). Forewing upper-side light olive-cream with a light golden glint; below half of 1A+2A a large dark chestnut patch; forewing with many narrow olive lines from near costal margin to dorsum, interrupted by narrowly brown veins; a large olive subterminal patch of triangular shape from below costal margin to near half of CuA1; termen without striae or lunules; CuA2 brown; remaining veins distinctly coloured and more or less brown; cilia short, 1.2 mm, olive-cream. Underside of forewing cream-olive with a golden glint and some narrow olive lines. Hindwing upperside light olive-cream, glossy, with brown veins and some pale olive patches; cilia as in forewing; underside as in forewing.

Abdomen: Mainly cream-olive mixed with ivory-yellow, glossy; abdominal tuft cream-olive, short, 1/5 length of abdomen. Genitalia with long uncus, 60% of length of whole gnathos, with a narrow graben-like surface ventrally. Gnathos has gnathos arms that are small, one arm 40% the size of valva; upper part of the gnathos arm is a short band as long as 40% of basal width of valva, the lower part of the gnathal arm is small, and it does not touch the other arm but is well separated from it (ventral view), of elongated triangular shape with a pronounced thorn-like structure and with its base 50% of the basal width of valva, without smaller thorns along its wavy dorsal edge; the gnathal arms are connected ventrally by a narrow sclerotized band that is as broad as 30% of the transtilla and is narrowly bifurcated at the middle. The Gnathos ends well above the dorsal edge of the transtilla. The valva is short with a dorsal edge of 1.3 × the length of uncus, rectangular, tip broadly rounded; sacculus narrow, weakly sclerotized, 30% of length of ventral edge of valva; juxta well developed, with two broadly ear-shaped lobes and a broadly V-shaped emargination in between that is 30% the length of juxta, tips of lobes pointed. Phallus very large, as broad as 50% of basal width of valva and 50% longer than costal width of valva, only slightly S-shaped and bent upwards at tip distally, vesica without cornuti.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis.

Shimbania baginerichardi sp. nov. can be separated from all other congeners by the short, rectangular and broadly rounded valva distally, as well as the small, narrow, lower part of one gnathal arm that is only slightly broader than the ventral base of the vinculum. Two character states are similar to S. budaensis sp. nov.: the gnathal arms are connected ventrally by a sclerotized band that is narrowly bifurcated in the middle, and the lower part of the gnathal arm does not touch the other arm but is well separated from it (ventral view). Differences from the latter species include the following: the valva is more elongated with a dorsal edge of 2.2 × the length of uncus, while in S. baginerichardi sp. nov. the dorsal edge is 1.3 × the length of uncus; the ventral base of the vinculum is very broad and 2.1 × the width of the upper part of vinculum, while in S. baginerichardi sp. nov. the ventral base of the vinculum is narrow and 1.2 × the width of the upper part of vinculum; the tegumen is narrower than the lower part of one gnathal arm as the latter is 1.2 × broader than the tegumen in S. budaensis sp. nov., while in S. baginerichardi sp. nov. the tegumen is 1.6 × broader than the lower part of one gnathal arm.

Distribution.

Shimbania baginerichardi sp. nov. is classified here as a lowland coastal forest species that is at present endemic to the "Usambara-Kwale local centre of endemism" sensu Burgess (2000) located within the Zanzibar-Inhambane regional mosaic. The species is only known from the Shimba Hills and was never recorded by I.L. during 14 years of extensive fieldwork in the five coastal forests mentioned above nor in light-trappings undertaken by I.L. in other habitats, e.g. in Malindi, Gede, Shimo la Tewa (Kenya, North Coast); Ukunda, Diani, Kinondo village, north of Gogoni Forest Reserve, near Gazi village and in the village Shimoni (Kenya, South Coast).

Habitat of type species.

The coastal forests of Kenya belong to the global biodiversity hotspot "Coastal forests of Eastern Africa" comprising high diversities and endemism among plants and animals. This hotspot is among the top ten priority ecosystems for biodiversity conservation on the African continent ( Burgess 2000). The Kenyan coastal forests are home to 2,489 vascular plant species or 39.55% of all plant species found in Kenya with 90 endemic species and with the Leguminosae ( Fabaceae ) as the most species-rich family comprising 226 species ( Ngumbau et al. 2020). The Shimba Hills have a mosaic of grasslands (decreasing rapidly along the coast and in many areas of Kenya!), scrub, exotic plantations and coastal forest of which large parts are protected since 1903 with subsequent extensions and gazetted areas as National Reserve as well as Forest Reserve until 1968. The forests represent the second largest coastal forest in Kenya (253 km2) and were found to be Kenya’s premier area for plant diversity ( Luke 2005) as well as the richest Kenyan coastal forest with the highest number of woody plant species comprising 498 species, and hence they have 207 woody species more than Kenya’s largest coastal forest Arabuko-Sokoke (420 km2) ( Fungomeli et al. 2020). A checklist for the Shimba Hills, including also non-forest habitats and adjacent forest patches (but excluding the five forests studied by Lehmann and Kioko 2005; Lehmann unpubl. data collected in 2001-2007), was compiled by Luke (2005) for an area of ca. 600 km2. His checklist comprises 1,396 indigenous plant species in 686 genera and 143 families, representing 44% of the coastal flora. In regard to this enormous species diversity, Luke (2005) stated that one reason "is probably the Shimba’s proximity" to the ancient East and West Usambara Mountains (Tanzania) where 2,855 plant species occur ( Iversen 1991). Looking into such a diverse floristic background of the type locality it is remarkable that only one species of Shimbania , represented by two specimens of S. baginerichardi sp. nov., is known from the Shimba Hills with no further record from forest and non-forest areas adjacent to the East and Southeast of the Shimba Hills (cf. Lehmann and Kioko 2000, 2005; Lehmann unpubl. data collected in 2001-2007), nor from Amani in the East Usambara Mountains and nor from various places in the West Usambara Mountains (Lehmann in prep.).

Schmidt (1991) studied the forests of the Shimba Hills and defined four "forest plant communities" with a hierarchical arrangement of "plant formations" including six major "plant community groups" and seven major "plant communities". Among the latter are two communities that are of interest here because of their original character, their occurrence on a large area in the Shimba Hills and their characteristic components including woody legumes. First, the " Lagynias pallidiflora community" as part of the " Olyra-Rawsonia community group" is the "most original vegetation type on Magarini sands" that are of Pliocene age and extend in a broad band from northeast to southwest along the eastern part of the Shimba Hills and eastwards to near the western side adjacent to Kaya Muhaka and Gogoni Forest Reserve. The characteristic species of this most original vegetation type are Lagynias pallidiflora Bullock ( Rubiaceae ), Olax obtusifolia De Wild. ( Olacaceae ), Albizia glaberrima Benth. ( Leguminosae - Mimosoideae ), Cola octoloboides Brenan ( Sterculiaceae ) and large climbers like Caesalpinia volkensii Harms ( Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae ). Second, the " Paramacrolobium coeruleum community" that is widely distributed within the "tropical evergreen seasonal lowland forest plant community" and occurs on Upper Triassic "Mazeras sandstone" and "Shimba grit" covering the largest area on the Shimba Hills. The upper tree stratum is dominated by Paramacrolobium coeruleum J. Léonhard ( Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae ), Julbernardia magnistipulata Troupin ( Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae ), Albizia glaberrima Benth. ( Leguminosae - Mimosoideae ) and Synsepalum brevipes T.D. Penn. ( Sapotaceae ). A similar dominance of Julbernardia magnistipulata Troupin ( Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae ) and Synsepalum brevipes T.D. Penn. ( Sapotaceae ) was found in certain parts of Kaya Muhaka ( Lehmann and Kioko 2000, 2005) as well as in Gogoni Forest Reserve (Lehmann unpubl. data collected in 2001-2007), but the dominance of woody legumes is entirely absent in coastal forests that occur along the shore line of the Indian Ocean, e.g. Kaya Diani, Kaya Kinondo ( Lehmann and Kioko 2005; Lehmann 2019b) and in Shimoni Forest (Lehmann unpubl. data collected in 2001-2007). Nevertheless, a species of Shimbania was never recorded neither in Kaya Muhaka nor in Gogoni Forest Reserve. Hence, S. baginerichardi sp. nov. does most probably have a sedentary behavior (cf. Lehmann 2019b, Pp. 325-326) and most probably occurs only very locally in the "Usambara-Kwale local centre of endemism", or might be restricted to the Shimba Hills. In regard to the very diverse flora, e.g. the newly described tree Vangueriopsis shimbaensis A.P. Davis & Q. Luke 2010 ( Rubiaceae ) is also restricted to the Shimba Hills ( Ngumbau et al. 2020); its flowers were first photographed by Lehmann & Luke in 2005 (cf. Davis and Luke 2010).

Etymology.

Shimbania baginerichardi is named for Dr. Richard Kiome Bagine (Nairobi, Kenya) for his friendship until present, for his significant support and long-term guidance of the research of I.L. in Kenya during 1989-2008, e.g. on various research permits, particularly for Kaya Muhaka, Kaya Kinondo and Shimoni Forest, first as the Head of Division of Natural Sciences and then as Deputy Director and Chief Scientist of the Center for Biodiversity of the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) as well as Deputy Director and Chief Research Scientist for Biodiversity Research of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). His research work focused, e.g. on the ecology and diversity of East African termites. The gender of the new species name is a noun.

Figures

Figure 1. a. Shimbania baginerichardi sp. nov., holotype, male, Kenya, Kwale County, Shimba Hills National Reserve; b. S. budaensis sp. nov., holotype, male, Kenya, Kwale County, Buda Forest Reserve; c. S. tanaensis sp. nov., holotype, male, Kenya, Tana River County, Mchelelo Camp, close to the Tana River; d. S. tanaensis sp. nov., paratype, male, Kenya, Mombasa County, Shimo la Tewa.

Figure 8. Male and female genitalia in a pressed condition below glass: a. Shimbania baginerichardi sp. nov., holotype, male, Kenya, Kwale County, Shimba Hills National Reserve; b. S. tanaensis sp. nov., paratype, male, Kenya, Mombasa County, Shimo la Tewa; c. S. budaensis sp. nov., holotype, male, Kenya, Kwale County, Buda Forest Reserve; d. S. pwaniensis sp. nov., holotype, male, Tanzania, Pwani Region, road from Dar es-Salaam to Chalinze, near the railway-crossing, ca. 2 km from the Ruvu River.