Subject: Wasp-like insect from Tampico
Location: Tampico, Mexico
November 3, 2013 8:10 am
My wife found this bug outside our garden. She insists it is a type of bee. I think it is some sort of fly that resembles a wasp for protective measures. Could you set the record straight?
This was found in Tampico, Tamaulipas Mexico. Near Gulf of Mexico coast.
Signature: Rexnatus
Hi again Rexnatus,
These are gorgeous photos of a wasp-mimicking Clearwing Moth in the family Sesiidae. We have examples of this family on our site, including Horama plumipes and this still unidentified species we posted in 2007. Maybe Karl will have some time to research this identification.
Ed. Note: November 7, 2013
Thanks to a comment from Rexnatus, we have corrected the classification and we can now provide the species name for Horama panthalon, commonly called the Texas Wasp Moth on BugGuide.
Karl identified it correctly in one of your previous posts. It is a Horama panthalon, from the Arctiidae family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horama_panthalon
Thanks for hunting our archives for this Rexnatus. Though we are back in the office and trying to catch up on the scads of identification requests we have received, our gainful employment demands are very high right now and they often prevent us from being able to devote more time to What’s That Bug? which is a labor of love. We can tell you that Arctiidae has been demoted to the subfamily Arctiinae of Erebidae.