Sabatinca ianthina is a species of moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 belonging to the family Micropterigidae

Micropterigidae

Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently about 20 living genera. They are considered the most primitive extant lineage of Lepidoptera ....

. It was described by Philpott in 1921. It is known from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

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Adults were found on a rocky slope covered with various species of mosses and liverworts. They were resting on Gahnia

Gahnia

Gahnia is a genus of sedges found in Australia and a number of Pacific Islands. The common name is due to the toothed margins...

species, although it seems it does not have any closer affinities to that plant.

Original description

Wingspan 9-10.5 mm. Head clothed with long bright ochreous hair. Antennae blackish, annulated with ochreous on basal half. Thorax ochreous mixed with black. Abdomen black, sparsely clothed with whitish-ochreous hair. Legs fuscous, tarsi annulated with ochreous. Forewings broadly lanceolate, apex less acute in; dark metallic violet; a band of pale lemon-yellow at base; a lemon-yellow band before 1/2, faintly excurved, and dilated slightly on dorsal half; a variable series of lemon-yellow dots on costa between median band and apex, and a similar series on dorsum, usually two in each case but sometimes four or five: cilia greyish-fuscous. Hindwings dark metallic violet, fuscous basally: cilia as in forewings.