Observation date: August 12, 2020
Submitted by: dawittrock2231
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: Near a floodlight on my deck.
Status: Resident
Verified by: Ilona L.
Verified date: August 14, 2020
Coordinator notes: Temporary -- I'll place this moth as Catocala lineella for the time-being. From Bugguide -- *Update March 2016: The adults of both species, amica and lineella, are indistinguishable by photo (larva indistinguishable as well, Wagner 361). Traditionally, amica was distinguished by being lighter color overall, with less bold lines, and less blackish shading in the basal and median areas, while lineella was said to be darker overall with bolder lines and more black shading. However, as numerous specimens of both species have been sequenced and identified via DNA analysis, not only have those traditional characteristics been shown unreliable ( > 50% inaccuracy rate), but even the COI sequence data between some individual amica and lineella specimens have been so close as to be statistically identical. (See here for brief discussion on this.)
