Stigmella propalaea

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1889 using a specimen collected at Arthur's Pass at 600m above sea-level.^[3][1] Meyrick originally named the species Nepticula propalaea.^[3] George Hudson discussed this species under that name in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.^[4] In 1988 John S. Dugdale assigned this species to the genus Stigmella.^[1] In 1989 Hans Donner and Christopher Wilkinson agreed with this placement in their monograph on New Zealand Nepticulidae.^[5] This placement was again confirmed in a 2016 revision of the global species placed in the family Nepticulidae.^[2] The holotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.^[1] This species is only known from its holotype and the specimen is in poor condition.^[5]

Meyrick described the species as follows:

♀. 7mm. Head, palpi, antennæ, and thorax whitish-ochreous. Abdomen light grey. Legs whitish-ochreous, anterior pair infuscated. Forewings lanceolate; whitish-ochreous, obscurely irrorated with brownish; a dark fuscous dot on fold at 1⁄4, a second in disc before middle, and a third immediately before apex: cilia whitish-ochreous. Hindwings light grey; cilia whitish-ochreous-grey.^[3]

It is endemic to New Zealand.^[6][7] This species is only known from its type locality of Arthur's Pass.^[5]

The adult moths are on the wing in January.^[4] As at 1989 the female of this species has yet to be collected.^[5]

This species has been classified as having the "Data Deficient" conservation status under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.^[8][9]