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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) » Mother Underwing - Hodges#8806 (Catocala parta)

Species Catocala parta - Mother Underwing - Hodges#8806

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

Mother Underwing - Hodges#8806 (Catocala parta) NE Michigan, 8/9/13 - Catocala parta

Erebidae: Catocala parta - Catocala parta

Catocala parta - Mother Underwing - Hodges#8806 - Catocala parta

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 parta (Mother Underwing - Hodges#8806)

Hodges Number

8806

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Catocala parta Guenée, 1852 (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

Catocala parta var. perplexa Strecker, 1873 (6), (7)

Catocala parta var. petulans Hulst, 1884 (3)

Catocala parta form forbesi Franclemont, 1938 (8)

Explanation of Names

Specific epithet from Latin meaning "birth."

Form forbesi Franclemont, 1938 named for William Trowbridge Merrifield Forbes (1885-1968).

Size

Wingspan 70-85 mm.

Identification

Adult - forewing mottled light gray and darker gray or brown with whitish patches; black basal, anal, and subapical dashes usually noticeable, sometimes indistinct; subreniform spot and area basal to reniform spot form a connected whitish patch; another whitish patch usually present mid-way along subterminal area. Hindwing black and yellowish-orange or salmon-colored; medial band black, narrow, does not reach inner margin; terminal band black, broad; fringe scalloped, yellowish-orange to whitish, continuous to apex; antennae simple; sexes alike. Some individuals have a distinct "face of Jesus" (with a thick white moustache) on the thorax.

Larva - long and slender, brown, with thin & faint dark lines along the back.

Range

Nova Scotia to Maryland, west to Utah, north to Alberta.

Type locality: Baltimore. (9)

Habitat

Riparian habitats, treed flood plains where host plants grow; adults are nocturnal and attracted to light and bait.

Season

Adults fly from June to October. Larvae from May through August.

Food

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

Life Cycle

One generation per year; overwinters as an egg.

See Also

Meske's Underwing has a similar mottled appearance with whitish patches but is slightly smaller and has a "dirty" or "dust-covered" forewing that lacks basal and anal dashes.

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.20; Pl.3, f.14; Pl.11, f.4 (larva). (4)

Guenée A. & J.B. Boisduval, 1852. Vol. 7. Noctuélites, tome 3. Histoire naturelle des insectes. Spécies général des lépidoptères. Roret, Paris, 84. (1)

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group (10)

Bill Oehlke's North American Catocala (11)

E.H. Strickland Museum

Moths of North Dakota

Achille Guenée (1809–1880)

Works Cited

1.	Histoire naturelle des insectes. Spécies général des lépidoptères. Vol. 7. Noctuélites, tome 3. Achille Guenée & Jean Baptiste Boisduval. 1852. Roret, Paris, 441 pp.

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

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

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

5.	Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the .... Lawrence Gall, David Hawks. 2010. Zookeys 39: 37-83.

6.	Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres and Heteroceres, indigenous and exotic; with descriptions and colored illustrations (v. 4-7) Herman Strecker. 1873. Owen's Steam Book & Job Printing.

7.	Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). I. Gall, Lawrence F. & David C. Hawks. 1990. Fieldiana. Zoology. 59: 1-16.

8.	Descriptions of new melanic forms (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Noctuidae and Arctiidae). John G. Franclemont. 1938. Entomological News 49: 108-114.

9.	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.

10.	North American Moth Photographers Group

11.	Bill Oehlke's North American Catocala

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 7 January, 2006 - 11:15am
Additional contributions by Cindy Mead, marcie oconnor, Randy Hardy
Last updated 12 March, 2018 - 8:59pm

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