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Species Catocala palaeogama - Oldwife Underwing - Hodges#8795
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 palaeogama (Oldwife Underwing - Hodges#8795)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Catocala palaeogama Guenée, 1852 (1), (2), (3)
Catocala phalanga Grote, 1864 (4), (2), (5)
Catocala snowiana Grote, 1876 ( 41), (5)
Catabapta paleogama (misspelling of specific name) (6)
Catocala palaeogama var. "Annida" Fager, 1882 ( 120)
Catocala denussa Ehrman, 1893 ( 152), (3) Explanation of Names Specific epithet from Greek παλαιός γάμος meaning "old wife." Identification Adult - forewing variable, usually mottled whitish-gray [or blackish in melanic form "denussa"] [or with black basal patch and ST band in form "phalanga"]; AM line a considerable distance from subreniform spot; in form "annida", forewing whitish with black reniform spot, subapical spot, and border along inner margin; hindwing orange with irregular black bands in all forms; fringe orange at apex. [adapted from description by Charles Covell] Range Ontario, Quebec, and Maine to Georgia, west to Texas, north to South Dakota and Minnesota. (7)
Lectotype male: vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland. (5)Season Adults fly from June to October. Food Larvae feed on leaves of hickory and walnut. (7)Life Cycle One generation per year; overwinters as an egg deposited on bark in the fall. See Also The Bride ( C. neogama) forewing has dark or blackish basal patch, and AM line comes close to touching subreniform spot
Youthful Underwing ( C. subnata) has thin, inconspicuous black lines
( compare images of all three species)
Absent a view of the HW, palaeogama is nearly indistinguishable from C. lacrymosa, though lacrymosa does tend to have more prominent white chevrons at the inner margin and more prominent charcoal-colored "spikes" running parallel with the inner margin through the lower "tooth" of the PM line (typically broken or faded at median area in palaeogama) 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. 15; Pl.6, f.18-20; Pl.13. f.4 (larva). (3)
Guenée A. & J.B. Boisduval, 1852. Vol. 7. Noctuélites, tome 3. Histoire naturelle des insectes. Spécies général des lépidoptères. Roret, Paris, 97. (1)Works Cited | 2. | On the North American species of Catocala.
Augustus Radcliffe Grote. 1872. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 4: 1-20. | |
| 3. | Illustrations of the North American species of the genus Catocala.
William Barnes, James Halliday McDunnough. 1918. Memoirs of the AMNH 2(1). | |
| 4. | Descriptions of North America Lepidoptera, No. 3.
Augustus Radcliffe Grote. 1864. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia 3: 73-92. | |
| 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. | The genus Catocala.
George. D. Hulst. 1884. Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 7(1): 14-56. | |
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