French Red Underwing

A few evenings ago Simon called out to me 'Quick! there's a huge moth in the laundry. Get the camera!' My first thought, if it was really huge is that it would be a Convolvulus Hawk Moth, especially since one had leapt out of my swimming bag when I opened in the changing room a few days earlier. It must have been on my towel on the line, got folded up, and only escaped when I unzipped the bag.

But it turned out to be a red underwing moth, and subsequent requests to mothing friends indicated that it was specifically a French Red Underwing Catocala elocata (Fr. la Déplacée).

French Red Underwings are found in central and southern Europe, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. They are the biggest of the ten red underwing moth species that can be found in France, with wingspans of 80 mm. The adults fly from July to October, in wooded habitats, including towns and villages. The caterpillars eat the leaves of poplars, or sometimes willows. 

This species can be very easily confused with the Red Underwing C. nupta. There is a very good comparison photo and list of characters to check on Lépi'Net if you ever need to distinguish between the two.

French Red Underwings are warmth loving creatures that live along the banks of rivers. But they are very commonly encountered in urban locations too. They will occasionally be attracted by a light, but usually quickly back off and sit motionless in the shadows, exactly as happened in our laundry.

It does not appear to be threatened, as it favours landscapes which are stable and very common caterpillar host plants.