Catocala alabamae, Grote, 1875

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 : 71

Catocala alabamae syn. titania Dodge , syn. n.

Fig. 40 (lectotype)

Catocala titania Dodge, 1900: 472

Catocala titania ; Barnes and McDunnough 1918: 42

Catocala titania ; McDunnough 1938: 118

Catocala titania ; Franclemont and Todd 1983: 129

Type material. Catocala titania : the original description does not state the number of types. A male type is at the USNM, and is designated as lectotype to clarify application of the name titania . Th e lectotype bears the labels “Bred. 6.8.99 / La Mo”, “type C. TITANIA , Dodge”, “ C. titania . Dodge / Type. Feb. 1 1900 / G. M. Dodge”, “Barnes / Collection.” Barnes and McDunnough (1918: 42) felt that C. titania “may be merely a poorly marked race of alabamae .” Although most specimens from Illinois and Missouri are referable to C. titania (even gray forewings with reduced maculation), both C. titania and C. alabamae and a wide range of intergrades (including its form olivia ) occur in populations in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas. Specimens referable to C. titania are in the minority in populations along the Gulf Coast, and are apparently lacking in peninsular Floridian specimens, which are even larger and more strongly marked than typical C. alabamae . Because C. titania and C. alabamae can be found on an intrapopulational basis over a broad geographic area, we place C. titania as a synonym of C. alabamae Grote, 1875 . Type Locality: Louisiana, Missouri, [ USA].