"Humming" moth

[Roger C. KENDRICK]

choksch wrote:
> 
> Unfortunately, I did not see the response ...... be sure to not
> bother you fine folks with this again.
> 
> Thank you,
> Steven P. Hoksch

Steven,

I'm not quite sure what I did with my original reply, but if I posted it
via either Leps-L or news:sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera, it should have
been archived somewhere - try getting in touch via Electronic Resources
on Lepidoptera, who (so far as I recall) have the URL for the Leps-L
archives. (maybe someone reading this would be kind enough to remind us
of the LEPS-L archive's URL, please??)

The jist of my message was you probably saw a species of _Macroglossum_
hawkmoth (the one species that is recorded in n.w.Europe is
M.stellatarum, the humming-bird hawkmoth). The tropics of s.e.asia has
many more species (16 or 17 known from Hong Kong) and a fair number in
Japan. For illustrations of this genus, get hold of the Moths of Japan
(2 different books, one published in the 1950's, the other in 1981 -
either will give you some idea). You could also try Tennent, 1992 or Li,
1992 (http://web.hku.hk/~kendrick/mp.htm#references) which also
illustrate some species found in Hong Kong. Your other most likely
publication would be B.D'Abrera's Sphingidae Munda.

Hope this helps,

Roger.