Catocala relicta, Walker, 1858

Gall, Lawrence & Hawks, David, 2010, Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the Nearctic fauna, with a revised synonymic check list, ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 37-83 : 51

Catocala relicta syn. elda Behrens , syn. n.

Fig. 15 (lectotype)

Catocala elda Behrens, 1887: 199

Catocala relicta race elda ; Barnes and McDunnough 1918: 20

Catocala relicta ssp. elda ; McDunnough 1938: 116

Catocala relicta ssp. elda ; Franclemont and Todd 1983: 128

Type material. Catocala elda : the original description states “Th ree examples. Portland, Oregon.” A female type is at the AMNH, and is designated as lectotype to clarify application of the name elda . Th e lectotype bears the labels “No. 11745 / Collection / Hy. Edwards.”, “Type / No. / A.M.N.H.”, “ Catocala / elda Hy. Edw. / Type”, “Beutenmuller – Edwards / types A.M.N.H. Bulletin / IV p. 192. – 1892 / gives: C. elda Behrens / 1 ♀, Portland Oregon. / Th is is presumably one / of three spec. referred to in O.D. / 14.VIII. 41 W. P. Comstock.” Beutenmüller (1897: 17) noted “last summer Mr. Doll raised a single specimen [of elda ] from a larva found on Long Island, N.Y. It is, without doubt, nothing more than a gray variety of C. relicta . Mr. Palm already called attention to this fact (Journ. N. Y. Entomological Soc., I, p. 21.).” Barnes and McDunnough stated (1918: 20) that elda was “at best a mere geographical race found on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Oregon … it is apparently best defined on Vancouver Island, B.C., for specimens before us from the interior of Washington State can scarcely be separated from phrynia.” Since we have also seen specimens referable to elda from other eastern North American localities, we place C. elda as a synonym of C. relicta Walker, [1858] . Type Locality: Portland, Oregon, [ USA].