Catocala messalina
Encyclopedia
The Messalina Underwing (Catocala messalina) is a moth
of the Noctuidae
family. It is found from Virginia
south to Florida
and west to Texas
and north to Kansas
.
The wingspan
is 40-45 mm. Adults are on wing from May to August. There is probably one generation per year.
The larvae feed on Quercus geminata
, Quercus hemisphaerica and Quercus virginiana.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the Noctuidae
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....
family. It is found from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
south to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and west to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and north to Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
.
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 40-45 mm. Adults are on wing from May to August. There is probably one generation per year.
The larvae feed on Quercus geminata
Quercus geminata
Quercus geminata, commonly called Sand Live Oak, is an evergreen oak tree that is native to parts of the coastal southeastern United States, along the Atlantic Coast from Miami-Dade County, Florida northward to southeastern Virginia and along the Gulf Coast from Florida northward and westward to...
, Quercus hemisphaerica and Quercus virginiana.