A closer look at some big (well, medium actually) Underwings...

One of the joys of late summer mothing is the chance to go "gooping for underwings". Is not as messy as it sounds and is actually rather pleasurable! The underwing moths are all in the genus Catocala. There are about 50 species in Ontario alone. Some are common and widespread, others rather scarce and local. Some are large, others are on the small side and, believe it or not, some are medium! At rest they all tend to have the typical delta shape as they hold their ample wings flat on a suitable tree trunk of nearby building. The cryptic paterns on the forewing create a near-perfect camouflage (except on green leaves) and they are often hard to find.

The best way to see underwings is to employ a method known as sugaring, which I've mentioned in previous posts. At the risk of boring my regular reader(s) I'll just mention that this is the process of painting a solution of beer, sugar, molasses and rotten bananas on suitable tree trunks and then waiting to see what comes in to feed. It should be remembered that every moth man (or woman) has his or her own favourite concoction. It can be spectacular...or mundane. On rainy nights it can be a waste of time, on warm humid nights it can be brilliant with many different species of underwings (and other species) supping-up the golden nectar. When they are feeding the underwings often reveal their trade mark feature - the vividly colourful hindwings they are famed for. They range from yellow to orange to red to carmine with variable black bands. Several species (my favourites) are totally black on the hindwing, whereas one species is black-and-white.

The three examples shown are (from the top) Briseis Underwing, Habilis Underwing and The Old Maid. Maybe next time I'll show you what the hindwings look like...