Sabatinca demissa

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Sabatinca demissa
Holotype specimen
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Micropterigidae
Genus: Sabatinca
Species:
S. demissa
Binomial name
Sabatinca demissa

Sabatinca demissa is a species of

Lycopodium scariosum
.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Alfred Philpott in 1923.[3] Philpott used three specimens collected by Robin John Tillyard in November at Te Wairoa Falls.[3] The holotype specimen is held in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.[2]

Description

Female
Sabatinca demissa larva

The larvae are small in size with a mature larva being only 2.5 mm in length.[2] It is coloured pale green and has darker green to black patches on the posterior portion of its body.[2]

Philpott described the adults of this species as follows:

♀. 6-5 mm. Head ochreous, with a dense spreading frontal tuft of long coarse hair. Antennae ochreous, with broad blackish bands at base, at 1⁄2, and before apex. Thorax ochreous. Abdomen fuscous-grey. Legs ochreous, tarsi annulated with blackish. Forewings rather broad, apex broadly pointed ; ochreous irrorated with dark fuscous; three or four incomplete black strigae on apical 1⁄4: cilia ochreous, with a black bar marking apex of the wing. Hindwings and cilia grey-fuscous.[3]

This yellow-brown coloured species has a wingspan of approximately 6.5 mm.[2] In 1923 Philpott published a paper where he attempted to find differences between the species within the Sabatinca genus by studying the venation of their hindwings.[4] This species does not have a long-distance pheromone communication system.[5] Its nearest living relative is S. incongruella which is found in the northern parts of the South Island.[2]

Distribution

S. demissa is endemic to New Zealand and is found in the northern half of the North Island.[1][2]

Behaviour

This species is on the wing from the middle of November until the beginning of January.[2] Adults are day flying but prefer to inhabit areas where the light is filtered through a leafy canopy rather than directly sunlit areas.[6]

Host species

Lycopodium volubile

The larvae of this species feed on leafy types of

Lycopodium scariosum.[2][7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sabatinca demissa.
  1. ^ a b "Sabatinca demissa Philpott, 1923". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  2. ^
    Wikidata Q44902221. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 19 February 2021.
  3. ^
    Wikidata Q109354500
  4. Wikidata Q109353010
    .
  5. ISBN 0-412-99611-1
    .
  6. ISBN 978-2-85653-707-7
    , retrieved 2021-11-02
  7. ^ "Sabatinca demissa Philpott, 1923". plant-synz.landcareresearch.co.nz. 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
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