Catocala delilah Strecker, 1874

Hawks, David, 2010, Review of the Catocala delilah species complex (Lepidoptera, Erebidae), ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 13-35 : 16-18

Catocala delilah Strecker

Figs 1, 3

Catocala delilah Strecker, 1874: 96 , fig. 7, pl. XI.

Catocala adoptiva Grote, 1874: 96 .

Catocala calphurnia H. Edwards, 1880: 59 .

Catocala delilah form umbella Barnes & Benjamin, 1927: 7

Type material. Catocala delilah : lectotype ♁ [ FMNH, examined], designated by Gall and Hawks (1990: 8). Type locality: [Dallas], Texas, [ USA]. Catocala adoptiva : lectotype ♁ [ MCZ, examined], designated by Gall (1990: 121). Type locality: Dallas Co[unty], Texas, [ USA]. Catocala calphurnia : neotype ♁ [ PMNH specimen #ENT 718629, examined], hereby designated to promote taxonomic stability (Fig. 3). Type locality: Burnet Co[unty], Texas, [ USA]. Th e neotype bears the labels “Burnett [sic] Co. / Texas ”, “Presented by / HER- MAN PAUL WILHELM / October 1970 ”, “ Catocala / delilah / Stkr. / det. / D.C. Hawks 1986.” Catocala delilah form umbella: holotype ♁ [ USNM, examined], unavailable infrasubspecific name proposed as a color form. Type locality: Kerrville, Texas, [ USA].

Taxonomic remarks. The original description of Catocala calphurnia states “the primaries are of a wholly greenish tinge, and not bright brown… secondaries are wholly black, with the exception of a small central cloud… Exp. wings, 2.10 inch. Kansas. Type, coll. Dr. James S. Bailey.” Beutenmüller stated (1907: 149): “The type of this form [ calphurnia ] is a female in the collection of the late Dr. James Bailey, Albany, New York, and was examined by me. The specimen looks suspiciously like an exotic species allied to the European nymphaea Esper or it is an undersized aberration of Catocala delilah . Th e fore wings are almost completely uniform dark brown…” Barnes and Mc- Dunnough (1918: 33) stated: “We know nothing regarding calphurnia Hy. Edwards , described from a single specimen in the Bailey Collection ostensibly from Kansas; according to Beutenmüller, the species may be either European or an aberration of delilah ; we leave it as the latter for the present.” Th e type of calphurnia has not been located, and the Bailey collection has apparently been lost. The potential confusion with Palearctic Catocala threatens nomenclatorial stability, hence the neotype designation. The neotype is one of three dwarfed and perhaps reared Catocala delilah specimens from the Wilhelm collection, with uniformly dark forewings and the yellowish basal area of the hindwing suffused with dark brown. Th e neotype thus agrees closely with Henry Edwards’ original description as well as with Beutenmüller’s assessment. The type locality is hereby amended from the original Kanss, [ USA] on the basis of the neotype labels.

Diagnosis. One of the two largest species in the complex, with mean forewing costal margin length 27.1 mm (♁), 30.5 mm (♀). Th e only species similar to C. delilah is C. desdemona . Both are similar in size, with a brown thorax, but C. desdemona has a paler and more yellowish abdomen that contrasts with the thorax. The forewing antemedial line is wide (ca. 2 mm) at the costa in both species, but in C.

Figures Ι–8. Adults of Catocala . Ι C. delilah Strecker 2 C. desdemona H. Edwards 3 neotype, C. calphurnia H. Edwards 4 lectotype, C. desdemona H. Edwards 5 holotype, C. caesia Hawks 6 allotype, C. caesia Hawks 7, 8 C. frederici Grote.

desdemona it abruptly becomes thin just past the radial vein; in delilah the line becomes thinner gradually. Th e brown line just basal to the antemedial line is usually less conspicuous in C. delilah . In contrast to C. delilah , the forewings of almost all specimens of C. desdemona are speckled with white or yellow scales, which gives the wings a distinctly gray cast.

Distribution and biology. Southern USA from south-central Texas to Kansas, and eastward (mostly coastally) to Florida. County records for USA are as follows. AR- KANSAS: Washington; KANSAS: Douglas, Leavenworth; OKLAHOMA: Comanche, Carter, Creek, Mays, Oklahoma, Pittsburg, Pottawattamie, Payne; NEBRASKA: Gage; TEXAS: Anderson, Bastrop, Bee, Bexar, Blanco, Brazos, Burnet, Comal, Dallas, Erath, Harris, Hays, Kerr, Kimble, Medina, Montague, Robertson , San Patricio, Washington; MISSOURI: Greene, Organ; ILLINOIS: Adams, Jackson, Union; TENNESSEE: Morgan; MISSISSIPPI: Oktibbeha; GEORGIA: Macintosh; FLORIDA: Citrus, Dixie, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jackson, Lake, Lane, Levy, Orange, Putnam, Seminole; KENTUCKY: (no county). Adults fly from May to July, with most records from May and June. Larvae of C. delilah have been collected from Quercus virginiana Mill. (in Texas and Florida), Q. fusiformis Small (Texas) , and Q. laurifolia Michx. (Texas) .