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Can you identify this insect?

Started 7 months ago | Questions
BSiler Contributing Member • Posts: 762
Can you identify this insect?
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ThrillaMozilla Veteran Member • Posts: 7,658
Re: Can you identify this insect?
1

Hummingbird moth.

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OP BSiler Contributing Member • Posts: 762
Re: Can you identify this insect?

Thanks!

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MacroLunchtimes
MacroLunchtimes Regular Member • Posts: 283
Re: Can you identify this insect?
1

Broad Bordered Bee hawk moth...not a hummingbird hawkmoth

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OP BSiler Contributing Member • Posts: 762
If location matters . . .

I photographed the moth in west Tennessee, USA.

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ThrillaMozilla Veteran Member • Posts: 7,658
Re: Can you identify this insect?
2

MacroLunchtimes wrote:

Broad Bordered Bee hawk moth...not a hummingbird hawkmoth

Well, I'm not a moth guy, but it doesn't look like that to me.  There's a problem with common names, isn't there? I just read that a hummingbird moth is the the common name for the genus Hemaris, not a single species.

Hummingbird moth (Clearwing moth)

Hummingbird moths

Broad-bordered bee hawk moth

Broad bordered bee hawk moth

Narrow-bordered bee hawk moth

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MacroLunchtimes
MacroLunchtimes Regular Member • Posts: 283
Re: Can you identify this insect?

Hemaris fuciformis to be precise in that case.

Sorry I'm from UK, thats what we know them as.

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ThrillaMozilla Veteran Member • Posts: 7,658
Re: Can you identify this insect?

MacroLunchtimes wrote:

Hemaris fuciformis to be precise in that case.

Sorry I'm from UK, thats what we know them as.

Hemaris fuciformis doesn't match the pictures at all, and according to Wikipedia, it is not found in North America.  And it's not a hummingbird hawk-moth either.

I'm going to continue to call it a hummingbird moth.

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MacroLunchtimes
MacroLunchtimes Regular Member • Posts: 283
Re: Can you identify this insect?
  • Hemaris is a genus of sphinx moths in the subfamily Macroglossinae, which is native to the Holarctic. Their main host plants are herbs and shrubs of the teasel and honeysuckle families. Moths in genus Hemaris are known collectively as clearwing moths or hummingbird moths in the US and Canada and bee hawk-moths in Britain.
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Woody S
Woody S Contributing Member • Posts: 742
Re: Can you identify this insect?
1

If that photograph was taken in North America it's a hummingbird clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe). If it was taken elsewhere I can't help you beyond that it's a species of Hemaris.

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ThrillaMozilla Veteran Member • Posts: 7,658
Re: Can you identify this insect?

Woody S wrote:

If that photograph was taken in North America it's a hummingbird clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe). If it was taken elsewhere I can't help you beyond that it's a species of Hemaris.

Yes, Tennessee. First link here.  Female.

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JMcHaffie Forum Member • Posts: 58
Re: Can you identify this insect?
1

I'd say it's a Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis), not to be confused with a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe).

iNaturalist has some good photos

See the distinguishing features here:

https://nativesuburbia.com/discovery-journal/hummingbird-clearwing-vs-snowberry-clearwing/

The clear discal cell, indicative of a Snowberry, is obvious in the top photo.

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ThrillaMozilla Veteran Member • Posts: 7,658
Re: Can you identify this insect?

JMcHaffie wrote:

I'd say it's a Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis), not to be confused with a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe).

I think you're onto something.  Both are called hummingbird moths, however.

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OP BSiler Contributing Member • Posts: 762
Re: Can you identify this insect?

From the article you cited: "Both moths are considered hummingbird moths and both look rather similar."

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JMcHaffie Forum Member • Posts: 58
Re: Can you identify this insect?

BSiler wrote:

From the article you cited: "Both moths are considered hummingbird moths and both look rather similar."

Yup.

What one chooses to call it depends on how accurate, and how scientifically precise, one wishes to be.

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OP BSiler Contributing Member • Posts: 762
Re: Can you identify this insect?

Agreed.  Honestly, before I started this thread, I didn't even know the insect was a moth.  I thought it was some kind of bee.  

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JMcHaffie Forum Member • Posts: 58
Re: Can you identify this insect?
1

BSiler wrote:

Agreed. Honestly, before I started this thread, I didn't even know the insect was a moth. I thought it was some kind of bee.

They really are an intriguing insect for sure. Great mimicry. I saw several this past weekend myself, also nectaring on Lantana flowers. 
Nice captures btw👍

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