This recently described small yellow-hindwinged Catocala appears to be limited to xeric upland habitats in a relatively limited region to the west of the Mississippi River drainage basin: bastropi forms an allopatric sibling species pair with louiseae, which occurs east of the Mississippi primarily in Florida and coastal Georgia. The larva of bastropi remains unknown, but it doubtless feeds on Ericaceae as do larvae of the other members of this tight-knit species group i.e., andromedae, gracilis, and sordida.