''Sabatinca aemula'' is a species of

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 ...

belonging to 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 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 ...

and is found in the north western parts of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. The larvae of this species has yet to be collected but it has been hypothesised that the larvae subsist on foliose liverworts similar to other species in the ''Sabatinca'' genus. The adults of the species are on the wing from the middle of September until the end of December. The adults of ''S. aemula'' are very similar in appearance to ''S. chrysargyra'' and it has been argued they can only be distinguished by dissection. However more recent research suggests that the colour patterns on the forewings of the two species can be sufficient to distinguish between the two species.

Taxonomy

This species was described by

Alfred Philpott Alfred Philpott (15 December 1870 – 24 July 1930) was a New Zealand museum curator, entomologist and writer. He was born in Tysoe, Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in ...

in 1924. He used specimens collected in the Cobb Valley, in December amongst rough herbage and undergrowth at a damp spot on the edge of the forest. The male

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen is held in the

New Zealand Arthropod Collection The New Zealand Arthropod Collection is a collection of terrestrial invertebrates held by Maanaki Whenua – Landcare Research in Auckland, New Zealand. It specialises in the taxonomy and identification of indigenous and exotic invertebrate sp ...

. In 2014 Gibbs synonymised ''S. aurantiaca'' as a junior synonym of ''S. aemula'' stating that further collecting of specimens revealed a continuous series of colour form removed the justification for ''S. aurantiaca''.

Description

The larvae of this species are yet to be collected. Philpott described the adults of the species as follows: This species is very similar in appearance to '' Sabatinca chrysargyra'' and the two are arguably indistinguishable in the field. Dissection of genitalia has been claimed as being required to distinguish between the two species. However more recently it has been suggested that the forewing patterns of ''S. chrysargyra'' is sufficiently different to enable the two species to be distinguished. Sandra R. Schachat and Richard L. Brown have stated that Both species are on the wing during the same time period in the year and are found in very close localities with ''S. aemula'' being found in the north west parts of the Tasman region north of Mount Hercules where as ''S. chrysargyra'' inhabits the Franz Josef valley southwards.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and is known from the Mount Arthur tableland in

. The species can be found in the Nelson, Marlborough, Buller and Westland areas. It can be found at altitudes ranging from 1100 m down to sea-level.

Behaviour

This species is on the wing from the middle of September until the end of December and is a day flying moth.

Host species and habitat

It has been hypothesised that the larvae of this species feed on foliose

liverworts Liverworts are a group of non-vascular plant, non-vascular embryophyte, land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in wh ...

as is the case for other species in the ''Sabatinca'' genus. The host species of the adult moths has not yet been recorded. Adults have been found in habitats that have good light but are damp and humid.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7395942 Micropterigidae Moths described in 1924 Endemic fauna of New Zealand Moths of New Zealand Taxa named by Alfred Philpott Endemic moths of New Zealand