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Photo#617166
Beautiful Moth - Deidamia inscriptum - male

Beautiful Moth - Deidamia inscriptum - Male
Duval County, Florida, USA
February 22, 2012
I found this adorable moth sitting on the outer wall of my house in the day, since he was still there that night, I decided to capture him and take some pictures. Upon realizing that he possesses no mouth parts and thus has a limited adult life, I released him the same night.
For some reason he just didn't want to go! Like in the photos this moth was intent on staying glued to my fingers. Can anyone tell me what species he is?

Images of this individual: tag all
Beautiful Moth - Deidamia inscriptum - male Beautiful Moth - Deidamia inscriptum - male Beautiful Moth - Deidamia inscriptum - male Beautiful Moth - Deidamia inscriptum - male

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

lettered sphinx
Species Deidamia inscripta - Lettered Sphinx Moth - Hodges#7871
hes a cutie allright

 
Thank You Shotguneddie :)
That I.D. looks correct to me, how could it not be, this is a very distinctive looking species. Once again, thanks.
Be Well and God Bless
P.S.
From looking at other peoples photos of this species it appears it is natural for them to be so tolerant of human intrusion/interaction...
Interesting.

 
Tolerance of humans
The sphinx moths need to "shiver" for a minute or two to warm up their flight muscles before being able to fly very far, so when you first find and handle a sphinx that has been resting for a while, they are not capable of flying away to escape. If you handle them for a while, they'll start vibrating to warm themselves up, and after a while, they'll be able to fly away. This process costs energy, so they generally don't do it unless they are being handled roughly or for an extended time. The same is true of a lot of the silk moths. Most other moths can go from rest to fully functional flight almost instantly, making them tougher to handle. This one probably couldn't have flown away if he wanted to. :)

 
That explains alot!
Thank you Mr. Dennehy! This guy didn't really do the shivering thing too much while he was on my hand, but when I tried to get him into a jar to be taken outside again, he'd pitch a fit and fly all over the room! I had to move him by letting him stay on my fingers while my hand was stuck in the jar! :P When we got outside he wouldn't budge, so I manged to get him onto one of my tomato plants to fly away at his leisure. He was well covered and it was night time so I think he was safe.
About the shivering, I litteraly just took some photos of a moth that did the EXACT thing you were talking about, he/she would just sit and look all calm for a minute, then vibrate it's wings, and suddenly be zipping around above my head somwhere! Cutworm moths do the same thing. Thanks for the info about this little mystery.
Be Well and God Bless

 
happy to help
its a beautiful little thing..youre lucky you have so many beautiful critters there..i am only seeing snow here lol

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