sphinx moth in Philadelphia?

[ciprit]

This thread reminds me of a lep mystery I had last year.  I saw a fat bodied
creature with non-stop wings feeding on my butterfly bush.  It never landed.
My first thought was hummingbird until I realized that this thing had
antennae.  I decided that it was some sort of spreadwinged skipper.  I have
no idea what color the wings were, but there was a bit of yellow in its
irridescent "fur."  Is sphinx moth in Philadelphia? Is it diurnal?

Christina

Doug Yanega wrote:

> A moth, similar to the ones shown under "Hummingbird Sphinx moth" at
> http://insects.ucr.edu/entmus/bugfaq.html - but in the UK, obviously a
> different species, probably genus.
>
> Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
> phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>            http://insects.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82