A Mystery for All The Entomologists Who Read My Blog (Careful. We Don't Want To Crash The Server)

It's another episode of "What IS That Thing?!"

The most incredible creature was ravenously drinking nectar from my purple petunias at lunchtime yesterday. I tried to get photos of it, but I didn't do a great job. The damn camera did a great job of focusing in on the petunias, but not so much the insect. (I think insect.) And it was moving so fast -- well, really it was that the camera reacted so slowly -- that by the time the camera burped, it was on to the next flower and I was having a dickens of a time getting a shot of it.

This is something I have never seen before, and at first I thought it was a hummingbird. It was as big as many of the hummingbirds I have around here. Then I realized it was not a bird, and I thought a gigantic bee, but I ruled that out upon closer viewing. I got quite close to it and was able to see it quite well. It was large enough to be a hummer, and its flying habits seemed similar to that of a hummer. The wings were gossamer type, and very fast moving, like a hummer also. It never really lit, and flitted from flower to flower quite fast. It had a long proboscis, and it was fuzzy. The coloring is sort of rust and black, with these two (?) white things coming out of the front third of its body, going off in a rather horizontal-and-bent configuration, not straight ahead as we would usually think of antennae. I think they were antennae, though. I couldn't see legs, but it was moving fast. It lingered to eat, even when I got close, but flitted from flower to flower. It took off, but I ran in to get the camera, and luckily for me, it came back. It really liked the purple petunias. But these are the only two photos I was able to get of it, and they are rather pathetic. 

The body shape, with these black furry ...what? tail fins or something? is reminiscent of the shape of a lobster, believe it or not.

Here are the bad photos, which my 13-year-old nephew, who just happened to arrive when I had just completed taking the photos and after the little creature had flown away, says will be enough for an experienced entomologist to make a quick identification. So I'm hoping someone who sees this knows someone who knows what it is and can direct me to a better photo and some information on this creature, because this thing was fascinating, and I'd like to know. And if I'm going to make a million-billion dollars on these photos because this is some rare, thought-to-be-extinct thing, or thought-to-be-not-present-in-the-Northeast species, please don't steal my photos, and don't freaking hotlink to my pictures, even if you are a sanctimonious so-called Chr..... oh, never mind. I'll share the million-billion dollars with all of you, don't worry. Really.

Comments

[Melissa]

That's one strange looking sucker. Sorry, but I'm no help on this one. If you ever need an explaination of Chinese landscape painting or something as fascinating, I'm your woman. Good luck finding out what that thing is!

[Cassie]

Wow. That's both bizarre and cool at the same time. Isn't there some kind of hummingbird moth? Its truly weird that it looks furry.

[Melissa]

Certainly looks furry. I think it matches your latest bag. Maybe you should reconsider its shut-in status.

[Kristen]

My guess is that it is a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth.

Go here: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/clearwing_moth.html

Scroll down a bit to get to the picture.

[Kathy]

Mothra!

[molly]

Hmm, whatever it is, I wouldn't suggest trying to get rid of it with a wad of wet paper towels, just in case. I've heard that strategy isn't too effective.

[Donna]

I have no idea what the hell it is, but I commend you for getting so close. I would have been a gibbering mess in the house with all the doors and windows locked. ;)

[Janine]

You have some seriously weird bugs over there! I look forward to its identification.

[KarenK]

Ooh, darn, wasn't the first one with the correct answer, that was Cassie and Kristen. Here's another url to more information on these beautiful bugs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk_moth

[julia fc]

It's gorgeous, and bizarre. This here moth woman has never seen anything like it. AT least it isn't after the wool!

[Laurie]

I find it amazing that people know what it is, and that there is a wikipedia entry on it. I'd RUN.

[Stephanie VW]

Darn it. I thought I was up early enough to make up some story about it being some sort of hummingbird / moth love child. What are all these people doing on the internet that late at night? Do they live on the West Coast or something? Oh, wait, that would be the LOGICAL explanation.

[sandy]

A hummingbird MOTH? Now I have heard everything! Can you just make believe that it is a hummingbird?
Christian my ASS!
hee!

[Carole]

How cool!

[Susanne]

Holy Crap, if that is a Hummingbird Moth, do we protect our wool? or put out sugar water...?
Great shots and I would have been right there with you...love this sort of stuff.

[Annie]

The first time I saw one here, I freaked out too. Check your garden. Various hornworms are the caterpillar stage for this moth family. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/RG210.pdf

[Kathleen]

My thought was a big moth too. But wow...a hummingbird moth. I had no idea.

[Jan]

Whoa!!

[Cara]

DAMN! I wish I had been there with my camera. I bet I could've caught that sucker. I love bug pictures. Although that one is big enough to scare me!

[Ruth]

That is the strangest and most beautiful thing I have seen in a long while. And whatsthatbug.com is a really, really fun website.

[Jean E.]

You mean those awful tomato hornworms turn into that? Dang Norma. I come to your blog to get my chuckle for the day and I end up learning something too!! Gotta love that.

[Judy]

yep, the first time I saw one, I couldn't believe my eyes... hummingbird moth

[jpt]

Isn't it cool how some moths have big chunky, furry bodies? Hurray for flying creatures who defy the "laws" of aerodynamics!

[jackie]

Holy crap. This city girl had no idea things like that even existed in this country.

[Nathania]

Dude, those are some crazy looking moths. Who knew there were moths with electric pink stripes and furry lobster tails? That's pretty cool to have such a magnificent specimen in your own purple petunias.

[Jayme]

You know how some people are with spiders or snakes or other logically scary things that don't bother me at all? I'm that way about moths and this is the scariest blog post I've ever seen! I'm not joking here. I never leave the porch light on because it attracts them. I would rather fall down the stairs than have a horde of moths by my front door.

[Sandy]

Yup, it's a Hummingbird Moth. We have them here in Georgia. I love to watch them almost as much as the Hummers. However, the Hummers are way more competitive!

[Robbyn]

Wow - some people get to see all the good stuff - pout. But thanks for posting the pictures, I never seen anything like that fellow! Very cool.

Cripes, I'd be naming him and adopting him for a pet...

[cari]

It's the Northeastern Felted Noro Moth, of course. Colorway # 372.

[Aldona]

We saw a few of those in my sister's garden. I would go with the Clearwing Hummingbird Moth theory. We live in Maine and I learned that the only hummer up here is the Ruby-throated which this clearly is NOT.

[Stalker Angie]

Ok, creeeeepy. Cool as hell but still creeeepy. *shudder*

[Judy]

What you have is a Humming bird moth. I used to see them all summer long when I lived in New Mexico. You would swear that they were a hummingbird - about the same size and able to hover but they have antennae. I've never seen one here in VT.

[Melissa]

Mystery solved! I saw several of these many years ago (I think I have pics somewhere) and have always wondered what they were. Who'dathunkit?

[Lee Ann]

Next thing you know, somebody's going to be dying a colourway...oh, whoops, Cari beat me to that. Already happened. ;-)

Whatsthatbug.com is really cool if you don't read the horror stories...I just sent them my bug picture from Ontario, because nobody could identify that black-winged, orange and blue-bodied something or other I took a picture of.

[Lee Ann]

Dyeing. I meant dyeing. No colourway is worth ending it all...

[adelaide]

Definitely a humming bird moth. I've got them too. Saw one for the first time this year -- well, that's to be expected here in the country. Never saw any in Brooklyn. They are quite wonderful, and they really like my butterfly bushes. However, I've never seen one at the humming bird feeder. Enjoy your new visitors.

[Teresa C]

So cool. I think I'll got sit in my garden to see if I find something cool.

[Chris in MN]

Here's another good picture of one. They call it a Whitelined Sphinx.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/EntWeb/Galleries/outdoor/beneficial/whitelinedsphinx.html

[Cathy]

Isn't that the coolest moth? I love the luna moths too. I guess I will invest in tomato plants next year just for the tomato hornworms so I will have a crop of the moths. Well... tomatoes don't do that great in my garden - it's not like it would be that big a sacrifice ;-) (that's what farmer's markets are for)

[Laura J]

I figured it was a hummingbird moth from about the first line. The hornworm caterpillars that TOTALLY eat your tomatoes and nicotianas, who weigh about half a pound (all right, but how often to do meet a caterpillar with Heft at all?) hatch into these rather smaller cute little moths. Ellie had never encountered one till this summer and I had to come rescue her. She reached for a pepper and got ahandful of Cold Flesh.
And those aren't bad pictures, the moths move like bats. Or actually, like hummingbirds.

[Lisa in Oregon]

That is soooo coool.....and I'm so glad you have them and I don't. At least...I don't think so...

Do NOT get me started on the Christian thing, puh-leeze. Often say I don't have a problem with Christ...it's the people who profess to "follow" him that scare teh crap outta me.

[Chris in MN]

And here's what they have on the Hummingbird Moth.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/YGLNews/YGLN-Aug1500.html#hummer

[margene]

I've sen the moth like humming birds but have never heard of that little creature. He/she is rather wonderful! Looks like to two of us have infected blogland today;-)

[Julia]

yup, guess you learned by now, it's a Sphinx Moth or Hummingbird Moth. Cool aren't they? here's more:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/clearwing_moth.html

[rams]

I'd always heard them called Sphinx Moths, but I also heard an ornithologist who got a call from a woman who said she had a headless hummingbird in her garden. When the ornithologist started to tell her about Sphinx moths she snapped "Well, if you don't know what it is, you should just say so" and hung up -- so maybe calling them hummingbird moths dodges the problem. But I didn't know that the foul hornworm denuding my Brandywine tomato would turn into one. Some compensation...

[Libby]

Omigod, we saw one of those in Arizona while on vacation, and the one thing I do not tolerate well is bugs of a foreign variety. We don't have bugs that big here in Seattle..at least not that I've seen (knock on wood)...so I threw my cowboy boot at it - and had to promptly call the concierge to send someone up to dispose of the body because my roommate and I wouldn't get off the bed :D

Don't kill it. It won't bite. At least that's what the concierge told me.

[Tish]

Since everyone else has already identified it, go to www.naturalsciences.org/funstuff/notebook/inverts/hummingbird_moth.html. Their photo is almost identical to yours and really shows off the "lobster tail". Great job capturing the image that you got. I like the ghostly image of the wing against the purple.

[Colette]

I am so glad we don't have those in Queens.

[cheryl]

WoW! I certainly wouldn't kill it!! That would be really cool to see!

[Lisa]

We had one of those at our honeysuckle last year. We tought it was somekind of baby hummingbird. But no, it's some type of hummingbird moth. Very cool to see though. Wish we had them again this year.