Subject: What’s this bug??
Location: Tulum Mexico
February 14, 2016 9:21 pm
Please tell me what this funky bug is in my hotel room in tulum Mexico
Signature: Lisa k
Dear Lisa,
Though it looks like a wasp, the creature that visited you in your hotel room is a Texas Wasp Moth, Horama panthalon, a harmless creature that mimics a stinging wasp in both its appearance and its diurnal habits. Thanks to your submission, we were also able to identify this previously unidentified Texas Wasp Moth that has been in our archives since 2007.
I’m no expert but the markings on the head are a bit different than the ones in bugguide. I just photographed one in the Yucatan that looks like this one and like the one in the 2007 posting. Could the Yucatan species be a different one than panthalon???