Catocala mcdunnoughi Brower

Hawks, David, 2010, Review of the Catocala delilah species complex (Lepidoptera, Erebidae), ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 13-35 : 29

Catocala mcdunnoughi Brower

Figs 19, 20

Catocala mcdunnoughi Brower, 1937: 32

Catocala mcdunnoughi browerarum Johnson, 1983: 247 , syn. n.

Type material. Catocala mcdunnoughi : holotype ♁ [ MCZ, examined]. Type locality: [Mount Wilson], southwestern California, [ USA]. Catocala mcdunnoughi browerarum : holotype ♀ [ USNM, examined]. Type locality: Moore Creek Forest Service Campground, Amador-Calaveras Co[untie]s, California, [ USA].

Taxonomic remarks. Catocala mcdunnoughi browerarum Johnson was described from four darker and more greenish specimens from Amador County, California. However, other topotypical browerarum material does not differ from nominate material and variation is not consistent geographically (e.g., many Plumas and Butte county specimens are more evenly greenish brown), so there seems little reason to retain the name.

Diagnosis. Catocala mcdunnoughi is most similar to C. chelidonia , but the more brownish and mottled ground color of C. mcdunnoughi will usually separate these species. No other small Catocala species in the region has postmedial lines with two large teeth only at M1 and M2.

Distribution and biology. Catocala mcdunnoughi occurs from the Laguna Mountains of San Diego County, California, northward to southern Oregon. County records for USA are as follows. CALIFORNIA: Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Orange, Plumas, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego; OREGON: Josephine. The immature stages of C. mcdunnoughi have been described and the larva figured by Johnson (1985). Larvae have been collected on Quercus chrysolepis Liebm. in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, California, and this is likely the major (or only) host of C. mcdunnoughi . In southern California, C. mcdunnoughi flies at somewhat higher elevations than the other five species. It also flies later in the year, usually emerging from mid- July to mid-August. At lower elevations in northern California it begins to fly in late June.