Hummingbird Clearwing Moth: Plant Pest????? You Decide

danielj

August 24th, 2006 at 12:00 am

Categories

Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths

Macro Photo – Hummingbird Clearwing Moth, Hemaris thysbe, Sphinx Moth
Dear Bugman,
I thought you might enjoy this photo of a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe: Sphinx Moth) that I took on August 22nd at 6:30PM. According to a Senior Research Scientist at my firm in Research Development and Engineering within the Insect Control department, "there are many Sphinx moths, also called Hawk Moths, in the moth family Sphingidae. The clear-winged species lack scales on large portions of their wings making them see-through at those spots. There are also clear-winged species in a different family (Sesiidae). The larvae of the sphinx moths are called "hornworms", large plant pests with a conspicuous horn or spikelike growth on their tail end." I took the image with a Canon Digital Rebel EOS with at a 55mm zoom with a diopter (macro) lens attached to the end of it at 1/60th of a second with flash at an aperture of f5.6 @ISO-100. The wings flap so fast that you can’t see them without a fast shutter speed… It hovers like a baby hummingbird, but has a proboscis like that of a butterfly. It was about 2 inches wide by 2 inches long… Feel free to add this to you site with credit to my name! Thanks for an amazing insect site!
JASON T. KOLESARI
Muskego, WI

clearwing jason Hummingbird Clearwing Moth: Plant Pest????? You Decide

Hi Jason,
Thank you for an amazingly beautiful photograph. We do have a major issue with the information your “expert” provided. Please march into her or his office and demand a definition of a “plant pest”. Merely being a vegetarian should not constitute pestilence. Sure, Sphingid Larvae eat plant leaves, but they are rarely ever numerous enough to denude a plant. Several species of Hyles have been imported to the American Northwest to help control introduced invasive weeds. That is not a pest. Sure, the occasional Manduca takes a bite from a green tomato while feeding on the leaves, but we let the Hormworms live on our tomato plants and still have more tomatoes than we can eat and give away. Adult Sphingid Moths are important pollinators. If exterminators killed the Hormworms, we would not have adult moths. Your “expert” has made our blood boil. Have a nice day and once again, thank you for a gorgeous photo of a “plant pest”.

Bugman,
Assuredly, the insect expert over here does not share the same setiments as I. Keep in mind that he is in the insect control business. I, on the other hand, can’t wait for this beautiful specimen to grace my gardens with it’s presence again! I was awestruck and couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It let me get so close to it so I could even get live photos with a macro lens. It hovered about like a hummingbird. Graceful but quiet. I will try to get some more snapshots when it arrives again. Thanks again for a great website! Best regards,
JASON T. KOLESARI
Muskego, WI