''Sabatinca heighwayi'' 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 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 1927 and 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 ...

to New Zealand. It can be found north of

Lewis Pass Lewis Pass is the northernmost of the three main mountain passes through the Southern Alps in the South Island of New Zealand. With an elevation of 907 metres, it is slightly lower than Arthur's Pass and higher than Haast Pass. The pass is ...

in the north west 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 ...

. Adult moths are on the wing from late September until the middle of January. The host of the larvae of this species is the foliose liverwort '' Plagiochila circumcincta.''

Taxonomy

This species was described by Alfred Philpott in 1927 using two female specimens collected by Mr W. Heighway at the Leslie Valley, Mount Arthur Tableland in November, 1915. The

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 at 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 ...

Original description

Philpott described the adults of the species as follows: This moth is one of the larger New Zealand endemic species within the genus ''Sabatinca'' and has a forewing band pattern of light bands surrounded by dark bands.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and can be found north of

in the north west of the

Behaviour

Adult moths are on the wing from late September until the middle of January. This species is regarded as being very elusive.

Host species and habitat

The host of the larvae of this species is the foliose liverwort '' Plagiochila circumcincta''. ''S. heighwayi'' pupates during the winter months.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7395953 Micropterigidae Moths described in 1927 Endemic fauna of New Zealand Moths of New Zealand Taxa named by Alfred Philpott Endemic moths of New Zealand