''Catocala piatrix'', the penitent underwing, 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 ...

from North America. The species was first described by

Augustus Radcliffe Grote Augustus Radcliffe Grote (February 7, 1841 – September 12, 1903) was a British entomologist who described over 1,000 species of butterflies and moths.Osborn, H. 1937. Fragments of Entomological History. Columbus, OH: Published by the autho ...

in 1864. It is placed in

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Catocalinae The Catocalinae are a subfamily of noctuoid moths, placed in family Noctuidae. In the alternative arrangement, where the Noctuidae are reduced to the core group around the Noctuinae, the present lineage is abolished, the upranked Catocalini bei ...

, either of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other f ...

, or – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed more strictly – of 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'') ...

. Within the Catocalinae, it belongs to

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Catocalini The Catocalini are a tribe of moths in the family Erebidae. Adults of many species in the tribe are called underwing moths due to their vividly colored hindwings that are often covered by contrastingly dark, drab forewings. Taxonomy The tribe is ...

and – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed widely –

subtribe Subtribe is a taxonomic category ranking which is below the rank of tribe and above genus. The standard suffix for a subtribe is -ina (in animals) or -inae (in plants Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plant ...

Catocalina. 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 ...

of adults is about 70–80 mm. The forewings are dark brownish gray, darkest at the base, and with an oblique lighter band extending from the midwing to the leading edge near the wing base. The hindwings are yellow orange with dark hairs at the base (though these are not especially prominent) and two

concentric In geometry, two or more objects are said to be concentric, coaxal, or coaxial when they share the same center or axis. Circles, regular polygons and regular polyhedra, and spheres may be concentric to one another (sharing the same center point ...

black bands. The yellow zone separating the black bands is wide, with a relatively smooth edge; the outer edge of the hindwings is light yellow with some black bars extending from the outer band. As typical for hickory-feeding ''

Catocala ''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 fe ...

'', both foreleg and hindleg

tibiae The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

of this species are spiny, and the tarsi carry four rows of irregular rows of spines each.Nelson & Loy (1983) The moths fly from July to November depending on the location. The larvae feed on

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

, butternut,

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...

pecan The pecan (''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia, ...

persimmon The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus ''Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-pers ...

, and

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

trees.

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are:See references in Savela (2019) * ''Catocala piatrix piatrix'' Grote, 1864 * ''Catocala piatrix dionyza'' H. Edwards, 1884 The nominate subspecies can be found in the eastern part of the United States, and the subspecies ''Catocala piatrix dionyza'' can be found in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Footnotes

References

*Nelson, John M. & Loy, Peter W. (1983)
"The Underwing Moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Oklahoma"
. ''Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science''. 63: 60–67. *

External links

* * piatrix Moths of North America Moths described in 1864 {{Catocalini-stub