''Catocala optata'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Erebidae 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'') ...

first described by Jean-Baptiste Godart in 1824. It is known from south-central Europe (except

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

) and north-western Africa. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 61–63 mm. Adults are on wing from July to September. The larvae have been recorded feeding on '' Salix caprea'' and ''

Salix viminalis ''Salix viminalis'', the basket willow, common osier or osier, is a species of willow native to Europe, Western Asia, and the Himalayas.Meikle, R. D. (1984). ''Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland''. BSBI Handbook No. 4. .Rushforth, K ...

''. The larvae can be found from June to July.

Subspecies

*''Catocala optata optata'' *''Catocala optata atlantica'' Le Cerf, 1932 (Morocco)

References

External links

''Fauna Europaea''
*
''Lepiforum e.V.''
optata Moths of Europe Moths of Africa Moths described in 1824 {{Catocalini-stub