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

Catocala miranda Hy. Edwards, 1881 - Miranda Underwing


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Taxonomy
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: ErebidaeSubfamily: ErebinaeTribe: CatocaliniP3 Number: 930842.00 MONA Number: 8855.00
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. Miranda was included by Barnes and McDunnough (1918) in their Group XVII (also adopted by Forbes, 1954), which feed mainly on members of the Rosaceae; 12 other members of this group (as redefined by Kons and Borth, 2015b) also occur in North Carolina.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984)Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1954); Sargent (1976)Technical Description, Immature Stages: Schweitzer et al. (2011); Wagner et al. (2011)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: A medium-sized Catocala with a pale gray forewing and black hindwings. It differs from C. orba primarily in size (Sargent, 1976); our specimens of orba exceed 50 mm in wingspan, whereas Sargent states that miranda ranges only from 40-45 mm. Schweitzer et al. (2011) also mention that miranda usually has some darker shadings, particularly towards the inner margin, whereas orba is more uniformly pale. C. miranda additionally resembles C. judith in color, and pattern, but is smaller, paler, and has narrower forewings. The pattern on the undersides of the wings easily separates the two: miranda possesses nearly all black hindwings but those of judith have a broad pale area located towards the base (Forbes, 1954; Sargent, 1976). Records submitted for this species should give some indication of size (e.g., a coin included in the photograph).
Wingspan: 40-45 mm (Sargent, 1976)
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from photos showing hindwings, abdomen, or other specialized views [e.g., frons, palps, antennae, undersides].
Immatures and Development: Larvae are illustrated but not described in detail in both Schweitzer et al. (2011) and Wagner et al. (2011). Based on the photographs, individuals can be brown or green, with a moderate-sized, upright brown horn on the dorsum of segment A5. The head has dark brown stripes on the side. At least one specimen (green in color) appears to be smooth-skinned.
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable only through rearing to adulthood.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Our records all come from the southern half of the Mountains, including the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge escarpment and the southeastern slopes of the Great Smoky Mountains
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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