Moths & Butterflies

Brenda · Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:14 pm

I'm thinking that it may have been a Giant Water Bug? http://www.pca.state.mn.us/kids/c-october.html I don't know that we have anything larger here. We used to find them in our pool every now and then. Yuk!

Brenda · Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:16 pm

mconheady wrote:If they had a "wall of shame" at the butterfly conservatory, she'd be on it.

I don't even want to know.

ShanaD · Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:09 am

No, it wasn't a water bug, it was more "moth-like"

Brenda · Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:49 am

Ah, I understand now. When you said a bug as big as the palm of your hand, that was the first one to come to mind. It may have been a species of Giant Silkworm Moth. This sub-family includes the Luna (which you would have noticed the green color--the one in the Lunesta commercial), Cecropia, Polyphemus and several others which occur here in NY. Without a photo it's tough to say, but I'm glad that you didn't squish it.

Brenda · Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:51 pm

I just had the coolest sighting! I've been fascinated by these for the longest time but never saw one until a few minutes ago. I ran back to the office and grabbed my camera, and I managed to get one shot before it flew off. Boy, are they fast! In my search to identify exactly which species this was, I discovered that there's actually a website named hummingbirdmoths.com. I didn't bother to link it, but the intro is pretty humorous.

Hummingbird clearwing:

Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:13 pm

they look like fighter jets

http://www.birds-n-garden.com/hummingbird_moths.html

Brenda · Wed Aug 08, 2007 8:37 am

mconheady wrote:they look like fighter jets

They do look like fighter jets, at rest. But having seen my first specimen, I don't think that they're at rest very often. It's easy to see how someone might think that they're baby hummingbirds. There are some really nice photos of them on the site that I linked previously, if you click on additional images of a particular species. The site that I mentioned when I posted the photo also has a really nice photo gallery, set to music, but there's no way to skip the intro page which is only cute the first time you visit the site.

You certainly got some amazing shots at the butterfly conservatory, Matt.

ShanaD · Thu Aug 09, 2007 8:01 pm

Are there Lantern Flies in the area?