Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

4 July 2004   12:37AM EST  (top)
4 July 2004   12:38AM EST  (bottom left)
4 July 2004   12:43AM EST  (bottom right)
All three photos are of the same specimen.

Euparthenos nubilis is a bit of a Catocala look-alike, with its colorful hindwing, but can easily be distinguished by the presence of four black bands on its hindwing, whereas no Catocala species has more than two black bands on the hindwing.  The forewing of Euparthenos nubilis is mainly light gray.  The basal area is dark gray-brown, bounded by a scalloped antemedial line.  There are dark gray-brown patches at the costa above the near-black reniform spot, and near the apex.  The terminal area is shaded darker gray brown.  The bright orange-yellow hindwing has four wavy black bands.  The outermost black band is almost broken into diamonds, so that the outer margin, giving almost a checkerboard effect with yellow and black along the outer margin.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan from 5.6 to 7.0 cm.

According to Handfield (1999), the larvae of Euparthenos nubilis feed on black locust, and Covell (1984) refers to this species as the Locust Underwing.  Handfield indicates two generations per year for my general area, with adult flight seasons from the beginning of June nearly to mid-July, and from early to late August.

My records to date for Euparthenos nubilis (each date representing "the night of") are in the table below: