Moth?
What’s That Bug,
Here is an image of an insect I caught a month ago in my mom’s kitchen, crawling it’s way up the wall. It made it’s cocoon in a small make-up box I kept it in and hatched some time yesterday. A friend of mine heard it buzzing around rapidly and started screaming, so I ran to my room, where I was keeping it, and was overwhelmed by the sight of the first insect I’ve kept…that didn’t die two days later. I know it’s a moth, but what kind it is, I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you. What is it? After a long time of searching, I have only found that it looks mostly like the Fig Sphinx and the Ficus Sphinx. Thank you,
Michaela C.
Florida
Hi Michaela,
Though the image quality is not the best, we believe this is another species of Sphinx Moth, the Tersa Sphinx, Xylophanes tersa.
¶ Posted 09 December 2007 § ‡ ° Just found your marvelous website looking up a Hellgrammite that visited a festival during Memorial Day weekend. Last year at the same time, this winged creature visited. Never did find out what it was. The event is in the Adirondack Park, along the Hudson River.
Tracy, visiting from Texas
Hi Tracy,
This is a Small Eyed Sphinx Moth, Paonias myops. There is information on Bill Oehlke’s amazing website
¶ Posted 06 December 2007 § ‡ ° LARGE GREEN MOTH
It had about a 4 inch wing span. it’s caught in cob webs on my ceiling in this photos.we live in the sticks 30miles nw of austin,texas.i had recentiy brought in my lei plant.(pulmeria i think). nice site you have
miles
Hi Miles,
This beauty is known as a Gaudy Sphinx.
¶ Posted 03 December 2007 § ‡ ° Green Moth
Hi-
Thanks so much for your site and all the enjoyment I’ve received from it! This is a large moth (sphinx?) I discovered early Halloween morning. It’s a pretty good size, slightly more than 2 inches in length. I’ve seen some moths of a similar shape that were brown, but this is the first green one.
Joe Fernandez
Tampa, FL
Hi Joe,
Your side view of this Gaudy Sphinx is an especially welcomed addition to our archives.
¶ Posted 04 November 2007 § ‡ ° Thought I was taking pics of hummingbirds last night,but when i looked closely,they were pretty ugly to be birds…… Are these hummingbird moths?? I live in Ocala,FL
Kathy
Hi Kathy,
Sphinx Moths, especially the dayflying ones, are sometimes called Hummingbird Moths. This is a Mournful Sphinx, Enyo lugubris. Bill Oehlke’s website has much information on this species.
¶ Posted 03 November 2007 § ‡ ° What is it
My wife and I found this bug near a small lake close to our home town of Invermere B.C. Canada. We nicknamed it a beemoth. Its aprox 3/4" long and 1 1/4" wide. The picture was take in May of 2006. Just curious what the proper name would be.
Matthew Holden
Hi Matthew,
We identified your Yellow Banded Sphinx, Proserpinus flavofasciata, on Bill Oehlke’s excellent site, and then verified its identification on the Butterflies and Moths of North America site. Both sites only have images of mounted specimens. We are indebted to Bill Oehlke’s site for countless identifications of Sphinx Moths, and we even write to him when we are puzzled. We are quite certain he would love to post your image of this tiny bee-mimic to his site as well.
¶ Posted 28 October 2007 § ‡ ° What in the world is this???
Hello – I am currently deployed to Basra, Iraq and I found this “moth” on the back of our truck yesterday. We noticed it in the morning and didn’t mess with it. When we came back to our vehicle several hours later in the day (after driving and making several stops), it was STILL there. We checked to see if it was alive and it moved. We just took some pictures of it and left it alone. Can you tell me what this is???? THANKS!
RAJA N. PANCHAL, TSGT, USAF
Hi Raja,
This is an Oleander Hawkmoth, a sphinx moth found in many parts of the world including the Mediterranean, Hawaii, and the Middle East. The larval food plant is the oleander.
¶ Posted 20 October 2007 § ‡ ° Moth
I have a picture of a large green moth that I made. The location is in Black Hammock, an area just north of Oviedo, Florida on the south shore of Lake Jessup. It is a damp, wet hammock.
Michael Thompson
Hi Michael,
We are happy your wonderful photo shows the brightly colored hind wings of the Gaudy Sphinx.
¶ Posted 15 October 2007 § ‡ ° 
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