Subject: Catacola Verrilliana
Location: Louisa, Va
Date: 09/03/2017
Time: 12:31 PM EDT
We found two specimens of catacola verrilliana on our place in Louisa, Va. It seems that it’s an invasive species mainly found in the western part of the US. We have raised butterflies but have no experience with moths. One of the specimens is alive, so we were wondering what to feed it. Any help or info would be helpful. Thanks, George Tyler
Your Name: George Tyler
Dear George,
We are curious what caused you to identify your Underwing Moth in the genus Catocala as Catocala verrilliana, a species we found pictured on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) listed 101 species of the genus Catocala in America north of Mexico. Powell & Opler (2009) reported 110 species in all of North America.” In our opinion, many species are very difficult to distinguish from one another, and we would speculate that you more likely encountered a species known to range in your area. We browsed through all the species of Underwings posted to BugGuide, and we could not conclusively identify your individual. You can try feeding your Underwing overly ripe fruit like plums or peaches. If you break the skin, your Underwing will have an easier time feeding.
Thank you for your response.