Catocala palaeogama
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Catocala palaeogama, the old wife underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found in North America from Ontario and Quebec (where it is rare), through Maine, New Jersey, Tennessee, to South Carolina, west to Arkansas and Oklahoma and north through Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.
Some authors consider Catocala palaeogama to be a synonym of Catocala neogama. The wingspan is 60–70 mm. Adults are on wing from June to October depending on the location. There is probably one generation per year. The larvae feed on Carya alba, C. glabra, C. illinoinensis, C. laciniosa, C. ovalis, C. ovata, Castanea dentata, Juglans nigra and Malus pumila. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Oldwife Underwing sighting in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 630th most-seen of the 723 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Oldwife Underwing in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months.
Between 9 pm and midnight
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Oldwife Underwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Shenandoah National Park, in our data
Shenandoah National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Oldwife Underwing sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Oldwife Underwing is recorded against all the insects logged in Shenandoah National Park (6 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
