Is this new to my area?

[OscartheGrouch]

"katierose" <katierose at iezpc.com> wrote in message 
news:21b7fad.0409221112.1eb195db at posting.google.com...
> Thank you for your help!  The body shape looks right, but the wings
> are not the same.  The wings were not deeply colored like this, but
> nearly translucent, and the pattern was very, very faint, barely
> visible.  Also, do moth's wings ever beat fast like a hummingbird's?
> This fellow's did--you could hear the whirring sound.  Appreciate your
> help.
>
> "OscartheGrouch" <tondaleo at hotmail.com> wrote in message 
> news:<Of2dnUmQIrhy0N_cRVn-rQ at speakeasy.net>...
>> "katierose" <katierose at iezpc.com> wrote in message
>> news:21b7fad.0409090739.9896cd9 at posting.google.com...
>> >I have lived in the Washington Cascades for over 40 years and have
>> > never seen this animal before.  I'm not sure WHAT it is, and would
>> > certainly appreciate help in identifying.  It was in my yard in
>> > mid-August. It had a tiger striped body (orange or salmon with black)
>> > and gossamer wings.  It was about the size of a
>> > hummingbird--BIG!--with wings that did not attach the full lenth of
>> > the body--more like a dragonfly, but broader. The wings beat so fast
>> > they were a blur and seemed almost transparent, like a hummingbird,
>> > however one time the wings slowed enough that I could see a beautiful,
>> > delicate pattern on the wings, also in orange or salmon.  I saw at
>> > least two legs on each side (yellow, I think) and it had antennae.  It
>> > had a long proboscis and was feeding on the flowers, moving slowly
>> > between them, though the wings were going like crazy.  The body was
>> > over two inches long, maybe almost three, and very thick, about the
>> > diameter of my little finger, tapering at the back.  Could this be an
>> > individual not native to our area that strayed north in the heat of
>> > the summer?  Thanks for any help.
>>
>> Sure sounds to me like a Sphinx moth, also called Hawkmoths. Specifically 
>> it
>> sounds like Hyles lineata, or the White Lined Sphinx. Check out this pic 
>> to
>> see if it's close:
>> http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/zeeb/butterflies/figs/moths/Sphingidae/H_lineata.jpg
>>
>> Possibly new to your awareness, definitely not new to your area.

Try this link. Go to Washington/Sphingidae.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/mothsusa.htm
Sphingids typically nectar at flowers beating their wings extremely rapidly 
and holding their position pretty still. It can be difficult to discern 
their wing pattern while in flight. Everything else about your description 
brings one of the sphingids to mind, though identifying which one is pretty 
dependent on somehow seeing or remembering wing pattern. There are a couple 
by the way that are bumblebee mimics, body black with a broad yellow stripe 
posteriorly, and a yellowish thorax and wings clear, save for a little color 
at the wing margins. Look at Hemaris diffinis for an example of this I don't 
think this is what you saw, just an interesting example of mimicry within 
the Sphingidae. 



 
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