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.
Catocala fulminea, the yellow bands underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in his 1763 Entomologia Carniolica. It is found in central and southern Europe, east Asia and Siberia. The xarippe lineage has been proposed to be a distinct and valid species in its own right, instead of being only subspecifically distinct.
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.
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.
Catocala cara, the darling underwing, is a 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Catocala luciana, the shining underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Herman Strecker in 1874. It is found in western North America, as far east as Minnesota and Illinois and northward into extreme southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. It occurs widely across the Great Plains, south to New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Catocala diversa is a moth of the family Erebidae first described by Carl Geyer in 1826. It is found in Spain, south-eastern France, Italy, the Balkans, European southern Russia and Israel.
Catocala separata is a moth of the family Erebidae first described by Christian Friedrich Freyer in 1846. It is found in the Balkans, the Mediterranean part of southern Turkey and the Levant.
Catocala judith, or Judith's underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Strecker in 1874. It is found in North America from southern Quebec and Ontario to the United States from New Hampshire south through Connecticut and New Jersey to North Carolina and Georgia, west to Oklahoma and Iowa and north to Wisconsin.
Catocala obscura, the obscure underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Ferdinand Heinrich Hermann Strecker in 1873. In Canada it is found in southern Quebec and Ontario and in the United States it is found from Massachusetts and Connecticut south to North Carolina, west to Mississippi and north to Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan.
Catocala desdemona, the Desdemona underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Henry Edwards in 1882. It is found in Utah and Arizona, ranging south into New Mexico and Texas, and onwards through Mexico up to Honduras.
Catocala herodias, the Herodias underwing or Gerhard's underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Strecker in 1876. The nominate form is found in the US states of Texas and Oklahoma. Subspecies Catocala herodias gerhardi is found from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York to Virginia. The gerhardi subspecies is listed as endangered in Connecticut.
Catocala nuptialis, the married underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1858. It is found in North America from Manitoba south through Minnesota and Nebraska to eastern Oklahoma and Texas and east to Kentucky and Illinois.
Catocala ulalume, the Ulalume underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Herman Strecker in 1878. It is found in the United States from Virginia through Georgia to Florida, west to Texas and Oklahoma and north to Illinois.
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.
The Erebinae are a subfamily of moths in the family Erebidae erected by William Elford Leach in 1815. Erebine moths are found on all continents except Antarctica, but reach their greatest diversity in the tropics. While the exact number of species belonging to the Erebinae is not known, the subfamily is estimated to include around 10,000 species. Some well-known Erebinae include underwing moths (Catocala) and witch moths (Thermesiini). Many of the species in the subfamily have medium to large wingspans, up to nearly 30 cm in the white witch moth, which has the widest wingspan of all Lepidoptera. Erebine caterpillars feed on a broad range of plants; many species feed on grasses and legumes, and a few are pests of castor bean, sugarcane, rice, as well as pistachios and blackberries.
