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Catocala cara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Darling underwing
Upperside of imago from Kane County, Illinois
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Genus: Catocala
Species:
C. cara
Binomial name
Catocala cara
Guenée in Boisduval & Guenée, 1852

Catocala cara, the darling underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It can be found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains; it occurs west at least to Oklahoma and north at least to Illinois. It also ranges into southern Canada, but only barely so.[1][2]

Description and ecology

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The wingspan is 70–85 mm. The forewings are dark purplish brown above, and light cream below. The hindwings have a deep scarlet-pink ground color with a pattern of two clean concentric blackish bands per wing, one through the midwing and one along the pale outer margin. The hindwing base is heavily covered in dark hairs; at a casual glance it may thus appear as if at the center of the dark bands there is a black spot or streak. As in many relatives, the foreleg tibia of this species possess no spines, while the tarsi carry three rows of spines.[3]

The adult moths flies from June to October depending on the location. The caterpillars feed on Populus (poplar and cottonwood) and Salix (willow) species, especially black willow (S. nigra).

Classification

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This moth is placed in the subfamily Catocalinae, either of the owlet moth family, Noctuidae, or – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed more strictly – of family Erebidae. Within the Catocalinae, it belongs to tribe Catocalini and – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed widely – subtribe Catocalina.

The former subspecies C. c. carissima, which occurs to the south of the darling underwing, is now again considered to be a valid species Catocala carissima (carissima underwing); this also includes the supposed species C. silvia, which actually is merely a form with no formal taxonomic standing.

References

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  1. ^ Nelson, John M. & Loy, Peter W. (1983). "The Underwing Moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Oklahoma" Archived 2012-11-02 at the Wayback Machine. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. 63: 60-67.
  2. ^ Savela, Markku (July 27, 2019). "Catocala cara Guenée, 1852". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  3. ^ Nelson & Loy (1983)
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