Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFErebidae Members: Catocala Members: 60 NC Records

Catocala piatrix Grote, 1864 - Penitent Underwing

Catocala piatrix
view caption 		Catocala piatrixCatocala piatrixCatocala piatrix
view caption
Taxonomy
Superfamily:
Noctuoidea		 Family:
Erebidae		Subfamily:
Erebinae		Tribe:
Catocalini		P3 Number:
930762		 MONA Number:
8771.00		 Other Common Name:
The Penitent
Comments: One of 103 species in this genus that occur in North America (Lafontaine and Schmidt, 2010, 2015), 67 of which have been recorded in North Carolina. Catocala piatrix was included by Barnes and McDunnough (1918) in their Group II (also adopted by Forbes, 1954), which contains just this one species.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984); Beadle and Leckie (2012)Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1954); Sargent (1976)Technical Description, Immature Stages: Forbes (1954); Wagner et al. (2011)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: A large brownish-gray Underwing with boldly banded orange and black hindwings. The forewings are mottled with dark and pale gray. A contrasting pale band extends from the costa to the subreniform, separating two patches of dark gray located in the upper basal area and the area surrounding the reniform. The subterminal area is a medium gray but is crossed by a dark gray apical dash. The hindwings are broadly banded with orange and black. Catocala innubens has similar hindwings but has a very different forewing color and/or pattern.
Wingspan: 70-80 mm (Sargent, 1976)
Adult Structural Features: Male valves are somewhat asymmetrical, especially their apices (Forbes, 1954 -- features of Group II).
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Probably occurs throughout the Piedmont and Mountains but may be less widespread in the Coastal Plain.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Catocala piatrixAlamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln Macon Madison Martin McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New Hanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey
Flight Dates:
High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
Piedmont (Pd)
Coastal Plain (CP)

Click on graph to enlarge 		Image showing flight dates by month for High Mountains greater than 4,000 feet, Low Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain: adults.