Catocala andromache H. Edwards 1885
Creators: name: Hawks, David
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Catocala
Catocala andromache

description: <i>Catocala andromache</i> H. Edwards Figs 15, 16 <i>Catocala andromache</i> H. Edwards, 1885: 50 <i>Catocala andromache wellsi</i> Johnson, 1983: 245, <b>syn. n.</b> <b>Type material.</b> <i>Catocala andromache</i>: holotype ♁ [AMNH, examined]. Type locality: San Bernardino, Cal[ifornia, USA]. <b>Diagnosis.</b> The only closely similar taxon to <i>C</i>. <i>andromache</i> is <i>C</i>. <i>b</i>. <i>benjamini</i>. The dorsal forewing of <i>C</i>. <i>andromache</i> is usually liberally speckled with greenish scales (in many freshly eclosed specimens the wings are a mottled moss green), whereas the dorsal forewing of <i>C</i>. <i>b</i>. <i>benjamini</i> is sparsely speckled with bluish scales. This distinction breaks down for worn specimens, and for many specimens from desert edge mountains in southern California. However, <i>C</i>. <i>andromache</i> is not sympatric with <i>C</i>. <i>b</i>. <i>benjamini</i>. <i>Catocala andromache</i> is sympatric with <i>C</i>. <i>b</i>. <i>mayhewi</i> along the desert slopes of the mountains of southern California, and there the two species are consistently separated by the larger size, darker forewings, darker yellowish bands, and wider black bands of <i>C</i>. <i>andromache</i>. The name <i>wellsi</i> was proposed for specimens with more blackish, unmottled forewings from the central Sierran foothills, but these characteristics break down in larger series and there seems little merit in retaining the name at subspecific rank. <b>Distribution and biology.</b> <i>Catocala andromache</i> occurs in the mountains of San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties, and northward through the southern Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada of California. County records for USA are as follows. CALIFORNIA: Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Kern, Lake, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Nevada, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Solano, Ventura, Yolo. Larvae of <i>C</i>. <i>andromache</i> have been collected from <i>Quercus chrysolepis</i> Liebm. They also probably feed on <i>Quercus cornelius-mulleri</i>, <i>Q</i>. <i>dumosa</i> Nutt., and <i>Q</i>. <i>wislizenii</i> A. de Candolle, among others. Adults have been collected from mid-June through August, and fly mostly below 2000 m. <b>Figures Ι5</b> <b>–</b> <b>20.</b> Adults of <i>Catocala</i>. <b>Ι5, Ι6</b> <i>C</i>. <i>andromache</i> H. Edwards <b>Ι7</b> <i>C</i>. <i>californiensis</i> Brower <b>Ι8</b> <i>C</i>. <i>johnsoniana</i> Brower <b>Ι9, 20</b> <i>C</i>. <i>mcdunnoughi</i> Brower.
description: Published as part of <i>Hawks, David, 2010, Review of the Catocala delilah species complex (Lepidoptera, Erebidae), pp. 13-35 in ZooKeys 39 (39)</i> on pages 26-27, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.39.439, http://zenodo.org/record/576631
description: {"references": ["Edwards H (1885) New species of California moths. Entomologica Americana 1: 49 - 50.", "Johnson JW (1983) Two new Californian Catocala subspecies (Noctuidae). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 20: 245 - 248."]}