This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the West Coast Region.

This species was first described by Charles Edwin Clarke in 1934 using a male specimen collected by himself at Franz Joseph Glacier in January and named Sabathinca abyssina.

[3] George Hudson discussed this species under that name in his 1939 publication A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand.

Forewing ovate, rather blunted at apex; very pale aeneous with fasciae of dark purple; an irroration of purple dots on base to ⅓ of costa, where a wide outwardly oblique fascia of dark irrorated purple crosses to dorsum, another sub-parallel at beyond ½, and another also sub-parallel, more or less bifurcated, towards apex, some loose irroration between fascias, of purple dots.

[1] The holotype specimen was collected on rocks on the north eastern side of Franz Josef Glacier.