Magical mimic

July 30, 2017  •  Leave a Comment

A week ago, I highlighted one of my favorite moths, a Hummingbird Clearwing, that I found working my daughter's Gooseneck Loosestrife plants. These hummingbird mimics are perfect behavioral replicas of the feathered jewels, and it turns out that they're not the only species around here to adopt hummingbird drag. This one, which I found on a walk through the Bee Balm fields at the Preston Nature Preserve, is known as the Snowberry Clearwing, and Hemaris diffinis is perhaps best separated from its cousin by two easy-to-spot field marks. The Snowberry has black legs, and it also bears a telltale black eye-stripe that often extends down its thorax. H. diffinis is also a bit lighter in color than its H. thysbe cousin, and if you can stop the wings with a fast shutter speed picture, the Snowberry more completely lives up to the "clearwing" name. Differences aside, they're both magic.


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