Is this a new creature?
January 17, 2010
From 8/15/09 just before sunset. This is Ocean Beach on Fire Island in New York state. It looks like a bee crossed with a shrimp.
Marc MIllman
Ocean Beach. NY

Snowberry Clearwing Moth

Hi Marc,
It appears as though many folks are spending the winter months trying to get identifications for some of the insects in their summer photographs.  This is a Snowberry Clearwing Moth or Bumblebee Moth, Hemaris diffinis, and you may read up on it on Bill Oehlke’s excellent website.

Mexican Moths (or butterflies)
December 29, 2009
One a cruise this August leaving Puerto Vallarta, Mexico the ships lights were drawing a large number of moths miles out to sea. One was 6-7″ across and extraordinarily “hairy” (2 photos). The other was about 3″ across the wings and with nice geometric patters (1 photo). I am submitting 2 for identification help.
Thank You
Kevin Schick
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Satellite Sphinx

Hi Kevin,
Your smaller moth is a Satellite Sphinx, Eumorpha satellitia.  You can read more about it on Bill Oehlke’s excellent website.  The species ranges from the southern portions of the U.S. down to South America.

Sphingidae
December 8, 2009
3 species of Sphingidae from Bellavista, Ecuador.
1: Perigonia sp. ?
2: Xylophanes sp.
3: Adhemarius sp.
I would be grateful for any ID-help.
Leif
Bellavista Lodge, western slope, Ecuador

Hi Leif,
Sadly, we haven’t the time to post all of your lovely images.  We are copying Bill Oehlke on this letter.  If he writes back to both of us with IDs, we will post his response.
Daniel

Adhemarius sexoculata

Hi Leif,
We had already included Bill Oehlke in our response to you and we would defer any of our feeble identification requests to his expertise. As we found the time (it is the end of the semester and we college professors and division heads have many responsibilities at the moment, like needy students, grading, annual unit plans, program reviews, program moves, equipment orders, and evaluations) we began to attempt to research your request.  We were pleasantly surprised to find your Sphinx Moth tentatively identified as #3 Adhemarius sp. already posted on Bill Oehlke’s excellent Ecuadorean Sphingidae page and identified as Adhemarius sexoculata.

Nyceryx hyposticta

We then found the image that you tentatively identified as #1 Perigonia sp. also posted to Bill’s Ecuadorean Sphingidae website and identified as Nyceryx hyposticta.  We can’t say for certain what species your Xylophanes species is, and we searched through the thirty three possibilities that Bill Oehlke has identified as flying in Ecuador two times in vain.  Perhaps the closest is Xylophanes crotonis, or perhaps Xylophanes aglaor.  We can only guess that since we know Bill received all three of your photos when we originally copied him, that he also had difficulty with this identification, or perhaps he has not yet found the time to post it.

Xylophanes species

While we are glad that you got your identification Leif, and we are happy that Bill now has some nice living specimens posted to his website, we are sad that we were not included in the identification loop.  Perhaps Bill or Leif will find the time to provide the final species identification for our readership.

Hi
Thank you for your reply and comment.
Maybe this is too much, but it’s the only serious forum I have found so far.
As an amateur it’s very difficult to give all the correct information. All my moths from Bellavista are photographed on October 19th 2009. They were all attracted to outside lights around some of the buildings at Bellavista Lodge. Sitting on fence posts and the main gate, well actually everywhere. They were really swarming like crazy. Must have been thousands. Heaven for a moth expert I would think. Even for a birder like me!
I’m sorry, but this is really all the additional information I’m able to give. I could, however, try to estimate size. Maybe small, medium and big is too vague?!
Leif

Pink Spotted Hawkmoth

Update from Bill Oehlke
Daniel,
I identified Nyceryx hyposticta, Adhemarius sexoculata and Agrius cingulata. I am going to seek help on the Xylophanes, but I think it is nebuchodonsor (sp??).
I thought I sent you same message I sent to Leif.
The white moth I think is one of the Arctiidae, the next family I am going to work on.
Bill Oehlke

Thanks Bill,
The Pink Spotted Hawkmoth, Agrius cingulata, came in a different email.  We will also include it among Leif’s beautiful Sphingidae.

Big Black Crazy Shaped Moth??
November 10, 2009
This “moth”, has been residing in our home for several days. We couldn’t get a very good picture, but it almost has a spade shaped tail and body part. Have been looking up moth types but cannot find anything similar. Please let us know if you have any ideas, thanks!
(We put him back outside, by the way. No carnage here!)
Whitney & Brian
Central Florida

November 12, 2009
identification request
sent in three pictures of a bug a few days back, just wondering how long a request usually takes to be identified. Thanks again,
awaiting identification so we don’t kill them for no reason, as their pretty intimidating looking, and the cat is always trying to capture any renegade bugs in the house.
Brian

Mournful Sphinx

Hi Brian,
Thanks for your patience.  Though we are unable to respond to every question, when someone bothers to follow up on an original query, we try our best to answer the request.  This is a blurry image of a Mournful Sphinx, Enyo lugubris.  Bill Oehlke’s excellent website has numerous high quality images of the Mournful Sphinx.

Green moth found in Japan
October 13, 2009
Hello!
My friend took a photo of this lovely moth in Tokyo, mid-October, near her apartment. I’ve been trying to find out exactly what it is, and I think it may be a Cephonodes species, but I’m unsure exactly what. If you could help give an exact ID that would be wonderful
choco
Tokyo, Japan

Cephonodes hyles

Hi choco,
Your photo is tiny and lacking in resolution, but we agree that this is a Cephonodes species, probably Cephonodes hylas.  We found a photo quickly by doing a web search of Sphingidae Japan, and then double checked on the Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic website.  That site states:  “When the moth first emerges, which it usually does in the early morning, the hyaline portion of the wings is covered densely with greyish scales. These come off in a little cloud when the wings are rapidly vibrated before the first flight (Bell & Scott, 1937)” and we believe these scales are present in your specimen, indicating that it has newly metamorphosed and has not yet flown.  Diurnal Sphinghids are often called Hummingbird Moths in North America since they are frequently mistaken for hummingbirds, and we are taking creative license with that common name in our posting title.