Sabatinca aenea

This species was described by George Hudson in 1923 using a specimen collected by Stewart Lindsay at Governor's Bay in Canterbury.[2] Hudson went on to discuss and illustrate the species in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[3] The holotype specimen is held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[4]

Sabatinca aenea painted by George Hudson

The larvae of this species are darkly grey green in colour and are similar in appearance to the larvae of S. doroxena.[1]

Hudson described the adults of this species as follows:

The expansion of the wings is slightly over 3⁄8 inch. The head and anterior portions of the thorax are clothed with shaggy rust-coloured hairs. The abdomen is blackish. The legs are black barred with golden-ochreous-brown. The antennae are rather long black, reddish at base. The fore-wings have the costa strongly arched near the base, the apex acute and the termen oblique ; pale golden-ochreous with black markings ; a small blotch on costa at base ; a broad strongly-curved band extending from costa at 1⁄4 half way to tornus ; a second band shorter and straighter, from costa before middle to disk ; a short, much narrower band from costa beyond middle ; a series of slender blackish markings around outer third of costa, termen, and in disk beyond middle ; a broad cloudy blackish patch on dorsum, extending half way from base to tornus ; between the black markings much of the ground colour has faint whitish reflections which tend to form pale transverse bands ; the cilia are golden-ochreous with blackish bars. The hindwings are dark grey with strong purple reflections; the cilia are pale golden-ochreous, becoming blackish near the body.[2]

The forewing patterns of this species are variable but can be similar to S. aurella.[5]

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[6] It is found in the Kaikōura and the Canterbury districts.[1]

Adult moths are on the wing from the start of October until the middle of December.[1]

The larvae of this species likely feed on foliose liverwort species with the adults likely feeding on fern spores or sedge pollen.[1] Both the larvae and adults prefer damp semi-shaded habitat.[1]