A sclerite from a late Cretaceous moth (Insecta: Lepidoptera) from Rakaia Gorge, Canterbury, New Zealand

Abstract

A second Cretaceous insect fossil known from New Zealand-the apical part of a sclerite from the abdomen of an adult lepidopterous insect-from Rakaia Gorge, Canterbury, is described. The fragment is interpreted as the broken off, apical part of the sacculus free arm of one of the paired valvae of the male genitalia of a species of Lepidoptera. Its affinities possibly lie with the subfamily Larentiinae of the family Geometridae and possibly with the genus Helastia Guenée.