Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Hypocala andremona (Stoll, [1781])
Hypocala filicornis Guenée, 1852
H. pierreti Guenée, 1852
H. hilli Lintner, 1878
Phylogenetic sequence # 930627
Numbers
Only one
Hypocala species occurs in America north of Mexico.
(1)Identification
Adult: forewing brown to gray with diffuse speckling; reniform spot either dark gray or barely noticeable; ST line composed of two joined arcs, touching outer margin at the point where they join; small pale patch may be present in terminal area near anal angle, and also midway along inner margin; hindwing black with large irregular yellow or orange pattern on inner half, and partial terminal band of the same color.
Range
Southern United States from California to Florida but apparently most common in Texas.
An irregular wanderer farther north, occasionally to mid-latitude states, and rarely to northern states and southern Ontaria.
(2),
(3),
(4),
(5),
(6)
South and Central America, Mexico,
Moth Photographers Group - large range map with some collection dates.
Season
Most records are from May through October.
Food
Larvae feed on leaves of persimmon. (Diospyros spp.)
Remarks
the subfamily placement of the genus
Hypocala is uncertain: Poole (1989) placed it in subfamily Ophiderinae, treated as subfamily Calpinae by Kitching & Rawlins, in Kristensen (1999) [see
Butterflies and Moths of the World]; it was placed in subfamily Catocalinae by
Troubridge and Lafontaine (2004), and provisionally placed in subfamily Erebinae [as
incertae sedis]
Internet References
live adult image from Texas (Dave Czaplak)
pinned adult image from Canada (CBIF)
pinned adult image (Matthew Barnes, Moths of Belize)
pinned adult image (James Adams, Dalton State College, Georgia)
pinned adult image from Guadeloupe, plus foodplant and distribution (Pierre Zagatti, Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the French Antilles)
