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Post by nomad on Aug 19, 2016 11:21:42 GMT
Catocala are very popular among American collectors, probably on account of their large size and beautifully marked underwings, hence their English name. In Britain we only three resident species, one rare immigrant that used to be a transitory resident and two vagrants that has been captured here a few times. Our most frequent species is the Red Underwing, Catocala nupta (Linnaeus, 1767) which is found in late summer, at rest during the daytime, at sugar and at light. There is a very rare aberration of Catocala nupta where the red underwings are replaced by chocolate brown = aberration brunnescens Warren 1914. Here is a very fine example that was collected by R.J. Champion at Guildford In Surrey on September 2nd 1907.  Catocala nupta aberration brunnescens
A drawer of typical British Catocala nupta with the rare ab brunnescens. OUMNH collections.
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Post by nomad on Aug 19, 2016 16:59:38 GMT
In Britain the lovely Blue Underwing or Clifden Nonpareil, Catocala fraxini (Linnaeus, 1758) is a rare immigrant to our shores. Previously, It has been a transitory resident for a number of years in Orlestone Forest near Ham Street in Kent and in Norfolk. British specimens were highly prized by collectors and later many were bred from its former Kentish locality. In the British collections at Oxford there is a fine drawer of this rarity. In 1921 there were only four specimens in the collection. Three early specimens in the drawer are one from F.W. Hope's collection labelled "Wells", a much worn specimen (top left hand row of the drawer shown below) and beneath the Hope specimen are two specimens from the collection of the Reverend F.M. Spilsbury, one with the data " Whitby". Wells is in Somerset and Whitby in Yorkshire.  British Catocala fraxini in the British collection at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. In the bottom corner is a specimen of Catocala electa, see the next post.  Catocala fraxini. OUMNH collections. |
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Post by nomad on Aug 20, 2016 8:16:08 GMT
Hopefully posts like this might attract more moth enthusiasts to the forum.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 10:51:21 GMT
Superb pictures Peter, I have 4 genuine British specimens of Catocala fraxini from the 1950's, what an insect, and a fine series of Catocala sponsa and Catocala promissa from 1890 to 1910, what strikes me about them is how fresh they look even after 100 + years, truly magnificent insects and they take pride of place in my British moth collection, I wouldn't part with them for the world.
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Post by nomad on Aug 20, 2016 11:03:49 GMT
Glad to here that you have a good series of the British Catocala dunc. They are very beautiful moths and I agree they retain their colours very well unlike certain other species. Some of those shown here are from the 19th Century.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 11:18:44 GMT
My late friend took 3 fraxini in his light trap on his farm in Buckinghamshire in 2014, september if memory serves, sadly he was also plagued by huge hornets around that time of year and they tore one to shreds, so much so it wasn't worth keeping, of the other 2, one was in fair condition and one was very good, he also found a dozen l boeticus in Kent the same year, of which one proudly resides in my collection.
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Post by nomad on Aug 20, 2016 14:14:43 GMT
Three fraxini in one light trap that's quite a catch. I guess your friend you mentioned was the late Tony William Harman. There was a very nice obituary of him by Brian Elliott in the British Journal of Entomology and Natural History in the March 2016, Vol 29, Part 1 issue that was accompanied by a nice image of him holding up a pint of ale and a picture showing Tony at a light sheet covered in moths on the RES Project Wallace Expedition in Sulawesi, 1982.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2016 17:26:59 GMT
 Yes Tony was a close friend of mine, we had lots of fun together, first rate entomologist and human being, his knowledge of British lepidoptera was profound, the world is a poorer place without him, here is a picture of us gorging on home made cornish pasties after a great day hunting green hairstreaks and dingy skippers, the picture was taken by his wife Dorothy outside that incredible farm of theirs. |
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chrisw
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Post by chrisw on Aug 29, 2016 17:29:14 GMT
Catocala fraxini looks very much like C. relicta here in the U.S. It's too bad you only have 3 native species. They are a lot of fun to collect in the U.S. They come readily to rotted fruit bait. I have collected 21 species so far this year in my own back yard.
Chris
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jhyatt
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Post by jhyatt on Aug 30, 2016 3:27:35 GMT
Apropos' to C. fraxini, P.B.M. Allen wrote in one of this several excellent collecting books words to this effect (forgive me for not quoting him exactly, but I can't seem to find the passage on short notice):
'I am certain that one night I shall find fraxini at my sugar. I will hopelessly bungle him, and he will fly away over the treetops, and then I will go home and sell my collection, and take to my bed, and die.'
I always thought that those words really expressed what a treasure fraxini must be in Britain, and what a tragedy it would be to miss a specimen!
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Post by nomad on Aug 30, 2016 7:00:10 GMT
I wish we had more Catocala species, I will add the others as time allows  |
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Post by nomad on Aug 30, 2016 7:49:06 GMT
From 'A Moth Hunter's Gossip (1937) by the P.B.M. Allan
" I am sure I shall find C. fraxini at my sugar one night, and then I shall be so scared that unlike my friend, I shall bungle him hopelessly, and he will fly away over the tops of the trees, and I shall return home and sell my collection, and take to my bed and die,and on my tomestone shall be carved, a likeness of a Clifden Nonpareil, and it shall be written ' Haec Omnia Transeunt,' which you may construe as ' all things fly away'. Alas, alas!
Well remembered Jyhatt.
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Post by nomad on Aug 30, 2016 11:16:34 GMT
Catocala Sponsa Linnaeus, 1767 and Catocala promissa Denis & Schiffermüller 1775. Although from time to time both species have been taken in other areas of England, the special home of Catocala Sponsa and Catocala promissa has always been the oakwoods of the New Forest. Visiting collectors if they attracted either of these moths to their sugar patches would consider it a very successful night indeed. If they were very lucky, they might have seen both species shoulder to shoulder at their bait. The larvae feed on Oak.  Dark Crimson Underwing, Catocala Sponsa. The small specimens collected by the London collector Thomas Ingall were taken in the middle part of the 19th Century in Old Windsor Forest, Berkshire. OUNHM Collections.
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Post by nomad on Aug 30, 2016 11:33:30 GMT
  Light Crimson Underwing, Catocala promissa. OUNHM collections. |
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jhyatt
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Post by jhyatt on Aug 30, 2016 12:57:57 GMT
From 'A Moth Hunter's Gossip (1937) by the P.B.M. Allan " I am sure I shall find C. fraxini at my sugar one night, and then I shall be so scared that unlike my friend, I shall bungle him hopelessly, and he will fly away over the tops of the trees, and I shall return home and sell my collection, and take to my bed and die,and on my tomestone shall be carved, a likeness of a Clifden Nonpareil, and it shall be written ' Haec Omnia Transeunt,' which you may construe as ' all things fly away'. Alas, alas! Well remembered Jyhatt. Not as well remembered as I'd like. I have all of his books, and simply could not recall which one contained that delicious passage. I could have sworn it was in "Moths and Memories"! Cheers, jh |
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