Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

12 July 2004   (moth captured the night of 11/12 July 2004)  (top)
12 July 2004   12:28AM EST  (bottom)
Both photos are of the same specimen.

My thanks to Mr. James T. Troubridge of Agriculture Canada for confirming my identification of this specimen.

Catocala sordida, also termed the Sordid Underwing, is one of 28 species of Catocala that have been recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001). To date, I have observed 19 of these species at my location. Collectively, these are referred to as the underwing moths, for their often-colorful hindwings.

The forewing of Catocala sordida is medium gray and somewhat mottled.  The antemedial line is black, heaviest at the costa.  Outlines of the reniform and subreniform spots may be evident in the median.  The postmedial line is black, bending sharply inward near the inner margin and almost touching the am line, then bending sharply again to the inner margin.  In the specimen illustrated here, the pm line is very thick and heavy near the inner margin.  The light gray or whitish subterminal line is zigzag with dark gray shading along its inner edge.  The terminal line appears as a series of black scallops or dashes preceding the gray fringe. The hindwing is banded in a brilliant orange-yellow and black, and there is a gap in the outer black band which is not visible in the photos above.  The fringe is yellow-orange, partly checkered with black. Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan of 3.7 to 4.5 cm.

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Catocala sordida feed on blueberry. He indicates an adult flight season from before mid-July to after mid-August for my general area.

My only record to date for Catocala sordida (each date representing "the night of") is in the table below: