The Penitent - Hodges#8771 (Catocala piatrix)? - Catocala

Moved

Moved from Moths.

… J.D. Roberts, 6 October, 2008 - 12:03pm

Catocala

I'm not entirely certain, but this strikes me as a very light Catocala californica or maybe C. cleopatra (cleopatra is actually sometimes listed as Catocala californica cleopatra). It may even be a subspecific form of another species such as C. francisca. I'd really like to have some others give their opinion on this one (are you out there Rick?), as I'm not thoroughly familiar with all of the forms and subspecies of the numerous west coast species. I may enlist some help for this specimen.

… J.D. Roberts, 4 September, 2008 - 9:53am

I'd be careful about reading

I'd be careful about reading too much into the color of this specimen. The picture was taken in incredibly poor (basically yellow) artificial light at night, illuminated with the flash of a point-and-shoot camera, and then auto-smart fixed in Photoshop Elements. Lord only knows what the natural shading of this specimen is.

… Elliotte Rusty Harold, 4 September, 2008 - 10:40pm

No worries

I didn't rely much on color saturation. I primarily used the PM line, ST line, reniform and subreniform spots, the heavy peppering of dark scales, and AM area to determine potential species. I'm thinking it's one of the above that I mentioned, but a good second opinion would be preferable. In fact, after looking at the second photo, it shares some strong similarities to Catocala luciana and C. junctura as well.

… J.D. Roberts, 5 September, 2008 - 6:38am