Species Catocala carissima - Carissima Underwing - Hodges#8832.1

8832.1

Southern darling underwing (1)

Catocala carissima Hulst, 1880 (in Edwards) (2), (3)

Catocala cara var. carissima Hulst, 1880 (2)

Once considered a subspecies of Catocala cara Guenée.

Phylogenetic sequence #930813

Specific epithet from Latin meaning "dearest, most or very beloved."

Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) included 101 species of the genus Catocala in America north of Mexico. (4)

Powell & Opler (2009) reported 110 species in all of North America, and about 230 worldwide. (5)

Wingspan 75-95 mm.

Adult: forewing dark brown, often with greenish or bluish cast; AM and PM lines black, sharp, heavy near costa; conspicuous pale whitish patch at apex, and pale shading inside PM line, sometimes extending throughout median area and along costa; terminal line a series of white dots; hindwing dark pink with two broad black complete bands; fringe checkered white and black or cream and black.

Southern United States: North Carolina to Florida, west to Texas, north to Kansas; also occurs rarely up the east coast to Connecticut and New York. (6), (7), (1), (8)

Heppner (2003) reported Maryland to Florida, Missouri to Texas. (1)

Wooded riparian areas.

Adults fly from May to October; flight begins in January in Texas. (9)

Brou (2008) reported May to November in Louisiana. (8)

Heppner (2003) reported June to July, September to October in Florida. (1)

Heppner (2003) reported several larval hosts. (1)

Salix sp. (willow).

Populus sp. (poplar).

Once considered a subspecies of Catocala cara Guenée.

Catocala cara is similar but lacks whitish apical patch and pale shading inside PM line, and also has a more northern distribution, extending into southeastern Canada.

Hulst, G.D. in Edwards, 1880. Descriptions of some new species of Catocala. Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 2(12): 97. (2)

Gall, L.F. & D.C. Hawks, 2010. Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the Nearctic fauna, with a revised synonymic check list. ZooKeys 39: 45; fig. 7. (3)

Moth Photographers Group (9)

Bill Oehlke's North American Catocala (10)

Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) (11)

Moths of Dallas County, Texas (6)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (12)