Sabatinca passalota 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 Edward Meyrick

Edward Meyrick

Edward Meyrick FRS was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern Microlepidoptera systematics....

 in 1923. 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...

.

Adults were found in January amongst moss.

Original description

Wingspan 10 mm for males. Head and thorax golden-ochreous. Antennae dark fuscous, base ochreous. Abdomen dark fuscous. Forewings ovate-lanceolate, pointed nearly from middle; pale shining ochreous mostly suffused with coppery-golden; dark purple-grey elongate dots in disc at 2/5 and middle, and a small elongate spot beneath and partly anterior to first; an almost marginal series of large dark purple-grey dots round posterior 2/3 of costa and termen to an elongate mark on dorsum before middle of wing; some irregular whitish marginal spots adjoining these, a larger transverse one from costa at 3/5: cilia pale golden-ochreous. Hindwings dark purple-grey; cilia pale ochreous tinged with grey towards base, on dorsum purplish-grey.