''Catocala sponsa'', the dark crimson underwing, is a species of

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'') ...

. It is found in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and from

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

up to the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

Technical description and variation

''M. sponsa'' L. Somewhat smaller and paler than '' dilecta''; generally with a pale fulvous tint below middle in the space between outer and submarginal lines; the lunule between veins 3 and 4 nearly always paler; the pale outline of the reniform stigma, the whitish spot preceding it, and the white spot beneath it often conspicuous; but both of these spots may be of the ground colour or yellowish, as well as white; hindwing with the inner margin not darkened; the red ground colour not so deep; — the form ''rejecta'' Fisch.-Wald. besides being smaller in point of size, has the hindwing clouded with fuscous in basal area; the median band thickened, and the red band following it much narrower than usual; the terminal border brownish black, and the red ground dull pink; to judge from the appearance only, this might well be a distinct species;- examples in which the median space between inner and outer lines is prominently paler grey than the other areas are separated by Spuler as ab. ''fasciata'' ; — in ab. ''desponsa'' Schultz the red of hindwing is either wholly yellow or partially changed to that colour; but examples of such change in this species are much rarer than in ''nupta'' and ''elocata''. — in ab. florida Schultz, which must come very near to ''fasciata'' Spul., the median area and terminal area beyond subterminal line are whitish grey, while the basal area and space between outer line and subterminal are pale brown; — ab. ''grisea'' ab. nov. (a female of which is in the Tring Museum from Uralsk, sent by M. Bartel), is entirely dark grey grizzled with pale grey, without any brown or fulvous tints, the lines black; — subsp. ''laeta'' Oberth., from Algeria, is brighter than S. European examples, the median area at each end dusted with whitish, the subterminal line whitish, and the annulus of the reniform and the spots before and below it white. — Larva grey brown or red brown, finely dark dotted; dorsal tubercles reddish: the hump on segment 9 prominent, with an oval yellow transverse marking edged with black: the hump on segment 12 also strong, with the two hind tubercles on it developed into brown points; head grey with black streaks. Warren. W. in Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 ''Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde'', Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914

Biology

Adults are on wing from July to September depending on the location. The larvae feed on

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

References

External links

*
Dark crimson underwing at UKmoths

Lepiforum.de

Vlindernet.nl
sponsa Moths described in 1767 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Catocalini-stub