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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Erebidae » Erebinae » Catocalini » Underwings (Catocala) » The Sweetheart - Hodges#8834 (Catocala amatrix)

Species Catocala amatrix - The Sweetheart - Hodges#8834

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Sweetheart or Darling Underwing? - Catocala amatrix

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)

Family Erebidae

Subfamily Erebinae

Tribe Catocalini

Genus Catocala (Underwings)

Species amatrix (The Sweetheart - Hodges#8834)

Hodges Number

8834

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Catocala amatrix (Hübner, [1813]) (1), (2), (3)

Noctua amatrix Hübner, [1813]

Catocala nurus Walker, [1858] (preocc.) (4)

Catocala selecta Walker, [1858] (preocc.) (4)

Catocala editha Edwards, 1874 (112), (5)

Catocala pallida Barnes & McDunnough, 1918 (preocc.)

Catocala amatrix form "hesseli" Sargent, 1976 (6)

Explanation of Names

Specific epithet is Latin for "female lover."

Size

Wingspan 75-95 mm. (7)

Forewing length 36-39 mm. (8)

Identification

Adult - very large. Forewing grayish to purplish-brown with wavy black lines; typical form has diffuse broken black band running from basal area to apex; form electa lacks this band, form pallida is very pale, form hesseli is very dark (melanic). hindwing pinkish-red with black bands; fringe wide and yellowish-white.

Range

Eastern North American, ranging west through the Great Plains, west to central Montana, Utah, and Arizona. (8)

Food

Larvae feed on leaves of poplar (Populus) and black willow (Salix nigra).

Life Cycle

Overwinters as an egg; eggs are laid on tree bark in the fall and hatch in the spring; larvae feed in foilage of trees, then descend the trunk and pupate on the ground; adults emerge from pupa at the soil surface.

Remarks

Skittish. Frequently rests by day under bark and in crevices, with a heads down posture. (7)

Print References

Barnes, Wm. & J.H. McDunnough, 1918. Illustrations of the North American species of the genus Catocala. Memoirs of the AMNH 2(1): p.32; Pl.3, f.11-13; Pl.11, f.3 (larva). (3)

Hübner, J., [1813], Sammlung europäischer Schmetterlinge 4: Pl.103, f.487.

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group (9)

Bill Oehlke (7)

PNW Moths (8)

Maryland Moths

Alain Charpentier, Insects of Quebec

Jacob Hübner (1761-1826)

Works Cited

1.	On the North American species of Catocala. Augustus Radcliffe Grote. 1872. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 4: 1-20.

2.	The genus Catocala. George. D. Hulst. 1884. Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 7(1): 14-56.

3.	Illustrations of the North American species of the genus Catocala. William Barnes, James Halliday McDunnough. 1918. Memoirs of the AMNH 2(1).

4.	List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part XIII - Noctuidae. Francis Walker. 1857. British Museum (Natural History), p.984-1236.

5.	Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). III. Gall, Lawrence F. & David C. Hawks. 2002. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 56(4): 234-264.

6.	Legion of Night: The Underwing Moths Theodore D. Sargent. 1976. University of Massachusetts Press.

7.	Bill Oehlke's North American Catocala

8.	Pacific Northwest Moths

9.	North American Moth Photographers Group

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 27 August, 2005 - 10:58pm
Additional contributions by tom murray, Maury Heiman, marcie oconnor, Randy Hardy
Last updated 30 August, 2018 - 6:42pm

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