Catocala amestris

Last updated

Three-staff underwing
Catocala amestris MGCL 1040559 D.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Genus: Catocala
Species:
C. amestris
Binomial name
Catocala amestris
Strecker, 1874 [1] [2]
Synonyms
  • Catocala annaGrote, 1874
  • Catocala westcottiiGrote, 1878

Catocala amestris, the three-staff underwing, is a species of Catocalini that occurs in North America. It is considered endangered and is legally protected in the state of Michigan. [3]

Contents

Description

Like most underwings, C. amestris has a brightly colored hindwing and brownish-gray forewings, the wingspan is 1.6-1.8in (4-4.5 cm). The forewings have a blotch that strongly resembles a kidney shape, beyond that the wing has mixed wavy lines. The hindwings have two wavy black lines separating a yellow-orange coloration. The caterpillar of this species is bluish white with a yellowish coloring on the dorsum, or top side. It also has an orange band along with 7 thin black lines on its sides. [4]

Habitat

Between June and August this moth can be seen in dry-mesic prairie lands and oak forest. Due to only having one genus of host plant, Amorpha spp. , the moth is hard to find in even these areas.

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<i>Catocala</i> Genus of moths

Catocala is a generally Holarctic genus of moths in the family Erebidae. The genus was erected by Franz von Paula Schrank in 1802. The moths are commonly known as underwing moths or simply underwings. These terms are sometimes used for a few related moths, but usually – especially when used in plural, not as part of a species name – they are used to refer to Catocala only.

<i>Catocala fraxini</i> Species of moth

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<i>Catocala electa</i> Species of moth

Catocala electa, the rosy underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Karl Friedrich Vieweg in 1790. It can be found in Europe and Asia.

<i>Catocala promissa</i> Species of moth

Catocala promissa, the light crimson underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It can be found in Europe and Anatolia up to Armenia.

<i>Catocala cerogama</i> Species of moth

Catocala cerogama, the yellow-banded underwing, is a moth of the tribe Catocalini that occurs in North America. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852.

<i>Catocala cara</i> Species of moth

Catocala cara, the darling underwing, is an moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It can be found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains; it occurs west at least to Oklahoma and north at least to Illinois. It also ranges into southern Canada, but only barely so.

<i>Catocala ilia</i> Species of moth

Catocala ilia, the Ilia underwing, beloved underwing or wife underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1776. It can be found in the eastern part of the United States as well as southern Canada. Subspecies Catocala ilia zoe can be found in California and Arizona.

<i>Catocala piatrix</i> Species of moth

Catocala piatrix, the penitent underwing, is a moth from North America. The species was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1864. It is placed in subfamily Catocalinae, either of the family Noctuidae, or – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed more strictly – of family Erebidae. Within the Catocalinae, it belongs to tribe Catocalini and – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed widely – subtribe Catocalina.

<i>Catocala nymphagoga</i> Species of moth

Catocala nymphagoga, the oak yellow underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in Southern Europe, from Bulgaria up to the Iberian Peninsula and sometimes further north as a migrant. It is also found in North Africa and Asia Minor.

<i>Eudocima materna</i> Species of moth

Eudocima materna, the dot-underwing moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae found in widespread parts of the world, mainly in tropical Asia extending to New Guinea and Australia as well as in Africa. Reports from the United States, Canada and the French Antilles are now considered to be Eudocima apta. The species can be differentiated from other Eudocima moths by the presence of small central black dot in each hindwing. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of Systema Naturae.

<i>Catocala neogama</i> Species of moth

Catocala neogama, the bride, is a moth in the family Erebidae first described by James Edward Smith in 1797. It is found in North America east of the Rocky Mountains, from Maine and Quebec south to northern Florida and west to South Dakota, New Mexico, and into Arizona and Texas. Its westernmost population from the semiarid Colorado Plateau region is rather distinct and was once considered a separate species, but is now regarded as a well-marked subspecies C. n. euphemia.

<i>Catocala amica</i> Species of moth

Catocala amica, the girlfriend underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1818. It is found from southern Canada through the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, ranging westward to Oklahoma and Arizona, northward to Minnesota and southwestward to Texas.

<i>Catocala junctura</i> Species of moth

Catocala junctura, the joined underwing or Stretch's underwing, is a moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1858. It is found throughout temperate North America, ranging from New York and Pennsylvania west to Montana, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona, and into Texas, and north to southern Illinois, extreme southern Alberta and Saskatchewan; it has also been recorded west of the Rocky Mountains from California and south-eastern British Columbia. It is typically found near water, where the food plants of its caterpillar larvae grow plentifully.

<i>Catocala delilah</i> Species of moth

Catocala delilah, the Delilah underwing, is a moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Strecker in 1874. It is found in the southern and midwestern United States, from Ohio south to Florida and west to Texas and Oklahoma.

<i>Catocala mira</i> Species of moth

Catocala mira, the wonderful underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1876. It is found in North America from Manitoba through southern Ontario and Quebec through New Hampshire and Connecticut to Florida, west to Texas and north through Iowa and Illinois.

<i>Euparthenos</i> Genus of moths

Euparthenos is a monotypic moth genus in the family Erebidae erected by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1876. Its only species, Euparthenos nubilis, the locust underwing, was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1823. The adults resemble some of the underwing moths of genus Catocala, which are fairly close relatives, in color, pattern, and the habit of resting on tree trunks. But E. nubilis can usually be immediately recognized by the four concentric black bands per hindwing, as opposed to one or two in Catocala. Color morphs of E. nubilis with altered pattern are known, however, and these may be hard to recognize without detailed examination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erebidae</span> Family of moths

The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings (Catocala); litter moths (Herminiinae); tiger, lichen, and wasp moths (Arctiinae); tussock moths (Lymantriinae), including the arctic woolly bear moth ; fruit-piercing moths ; micronoctuoid moths (Micronoctuini); snout moths (Hypeninae); and zales, though many of these common names can also refer to moths outside the Erebidae. Some of the erebid moths are called owlets.

References

  1. Yu, Dicky Sick Ki. "Catocala amestris Strecker 1874". Home of Ichneumonoidea. Taxapad. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015.
  2. "Moth Photographers Group Catocala amestris - 8844" . Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  3. "Species Catocala amestris - Three-staff Underwing - Hoges#8844 - BugGuide" . Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  4. "Catocala amestris (Three-staff underwing) - MNFL Rare Species Explorer". Archived from the original on 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2009-06-11.