Sabatinca incongruella

Sabatinca incongruella is a species of moth of the family Micropterigidae.[1] It is endemic to New Zealand and is found only in the northern parts of the South Island. It is a day flying moth and is on the wing from mid January until late February. The larvae of this species feed on liverworts and the adult moths feed on the spores of fern species in the genus Pneumatopteris. This species can be confused with S. chalcophanes as it is very similar in appearance.

Sabatinca incongruella
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Micropterigidae
Genus: Sabatinca
Species:
S. incongruella
Binomial name
Sabatinca incongruella
Walker, 1863[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Oecophora munda Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875
  • Sabatinca eodora Meyrick, 1918

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Francis Walker in 1863.[3] Walker described the species from specimens collected by T. R. Oxley, a photographer and collector who lived in Nelson.[2] Specimens collected by Oxley and forwarded to the British Museum (now held at the Natural History Museum, London) were mislabeled as being collected in Auckland. It is therefore presumed that the male lectotype specimen, held at the Natural History Museum, London, was collected in Nelson.[2]

Description
Venation of hindwing of S. incongruella

Walker described the male of the species as follows:

Dark ochraceous. Antennae with two black bands ; second band apical. Abdomen blackish. Fore wings with a few black speckles; costa with black points and with some gilded yellow marks ; of these the second forms a broad oblique streak, which extends to the disk and is much more conspicuous than the others ; fringe yellow; under side and hind wings blackish purple.[3]

The wingspan of the adults of this species is approximately 11 mm and the forewing pattern is made up of four colours.[2][4] In 1923 Alfred Philpott published a paper where he attempted to find differences between the species within the Sabatinca genus by studying the venation of the hindwings. The venation of the hindwings of S. incongruella were similar in appearance to the majority of species within the genus as they had a "recurrent" vein.[5]

This species can be confused with S. chalcophanes as it is similar in appearance.[3]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and is only found in the northern part of the South Island, from the west of Picton and north of Reefton.[1][2][6]

Behaviour

S. incongruella is on the wing from the middle of January until the end of February.[2] They are a day flying moth.[7]

Host species
Spores of the fern Pneumatopteris pennigera

Larvae of this species feed on liverwort species where as the adult moths appear to feed on the spores of ferns within the genus Pneumatopteris.[5][3][7] Adults have been recorded as feeding on the spores of Pneumatopteris pennigera.[8]

References
  1. "Sabatinca incongruella Walker, 1863". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  2. George W. Gibbs (30 June 2014). "Micropterigidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera)" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. 72. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.72. ISSN 0111-5383. OCLC 917549814. Wikidata Q44902221. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2021.
  3. Francis Walker (1863), List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, Part XXVIII. - Tortricites and Tineites, London, p. 511, Wikidata Q109352878{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. Sandra R Schachat; Richard L Brown (26 May 2016). "Forewing color pattern in Micropterigidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera): homologies between contrast boundaries, and a revised hypothesis for the origin of symmetry systems". BMC Ecology and Evolution. 16 (1): 116. doi:10.1186/S12862-016-0687-Z. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 4880886. PMID 27230100. Wikidata Q28602191.
  5. Alfred Philpott (14 December 1923). "A Study of the Venation of the New Zealand Species of Micropterygidae". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 54: 155–161. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q109353010.
  6. JAMES K. LIEBHERR; JOHN W. M. MARRIS; ROWAN M. EMBERSON; PAULINE SYRETT; SERGIO ROIG-JUÑENT (19 May 2011). "Orthoglymma wangapeka gen.n., sp.n. (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Broscini): a newly discovered relict from the Buller Terrane, north-western South Island, New Zealand, corroborates a general pattern of Gondwanan endemism". Systematic Entomology. 36 (3): 13–14. doi:10.1111/J.1365-3113.2011.00569.X. ISSN 0307-6970. Wikidata Q54569795.
  7. Gibbs, George; Lees, David (2014-11-01), New Caledonia as an evolutionary cradle: a re-appraisal of the jaw-moth genus Sabatinca (Lepidoptera: Micropterigidae) and its significance for assessing the antiquity of the island’s fauna, pp. 239–266, ISBN 978-2-85653-707-7, retrieved 2021-11-02
  8. "Sabatinca incongruella Walker, 1863". PlantSynz. 2021. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sabatinca incongruella.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.