''Sabatinca lucilia'' is a species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Micropterigidae Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently about twenty living genera. They are considered the most primitive extant lineage of lepidoptera (Kristense ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and is found in the top half of the North Island. The adults of this species are on the wing from the end of November until the beginning of March. The larvae of this species likely feed on foliose liverwort species with the adults likely feeding on fern spores or sedge pollen. Adults have been found on a sunny moss-covered clay bank. The species can be found in multiple forest types such as

kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

, kanuka and

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

and prefers to inhabit damp fern covered banks

Taxonomy

This species was described by Charles Edwin Clarke in 1920 using a specimen collected via electric light at Waitomo Hotel and another collected at Kauri Gully in Auckland. The latter specimen was designated by George Gibbs as the

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

specimen and is held at the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckl ...

Description

Clarke described the species as follows: In 1923 Alfred Philpott studied the wing venation of species within the ''Sabatinca'' genus and split the species in the genus into three groups. One of the groups contained ''S. lucilia'' and '' S. calliarcha''.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. This species is found in the top half of the North Island.

Behaviour

The adults of this species are on the wing from the end of November until the beginning of March.

Hosts and habitat

The larvae of this species likely feed on foliose liverwort species with the adults likely feeding on fern spores or sedge pollen. Adults have been found on a sunny moss-covered clay bank. The species can be found in multiple forest types such as

, kanuka and

and prefers to inhabit damp fern covered banks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7395956 Micropterigidae Moths described in 1920 Endemic fauna of New Zealand Moths of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand