''Proternia'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

genus of the family

Crambidae Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies ...

described by

Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854 – 31 March 1938) was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern microlepidoptera systematics. Life and work Ed ...

in 1884. Its only species, ''Proternia philocapna'', described by the same author in the same year, is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 21–26 mm. The forewings dark fuscous, somewhat mixed with paler markings and with obscurely darker fuscous lines. The first line is irregular and runs from one-third of the costa to before the middle of the inner margin. There is a small round pale-centred spot in the disc before the middle and an 8-shaped pale-centred discal spot. The second line runs from three-fourths of the costa to two-thirds of the inner margin and is followed by an obscure whitish ochreous line. There is an interrupted dark fuscous hind marginal line. The hindwings are fuscous, but darker on the hindmargin and obscurely mixed with whitish ochreous towards the base. There is also a cloudy dark fuscous discal spot and a faint irregular dentate pale posterior line.

References

Spilomelinae Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Monotypic moth genera Moths of New Zealand Crambidae genera {{Spilomelinae-stub