Hummingbird Clearwing Moth - Hemaris thysbe

Moved- Hemaris

Moved from ID Request.

This is H. thysbe, not H. gracilis... H. gracilis does have red legs, but it also has a very obvious reddish brown patch of scales along the side of the thorax along the legs, usually reaching to the eye, which this specimen does not display. Hemaris thysbe legs are whitish, but the hindlegs can be a bit darker, like this one.

… Ryan St Laurent, 1 August, 2017 - 12:33pm

Hemaris

The other visible legs on this one are also reddish. How does one decide on which anomaly to ignore to make an i.d.?

… Larry de March, 1 August, 2017 - 12:43pm

Hemaris

Well it's more of a combination of characters that leads me to this ID, rather than a single anomalous one.

Actually, red legs in H. gracilis, while a true character of that species, are probably the least reliable character to differentiate it from H. thysbe, since H. thysbe often does have some darker shading on the dorsal surface of the legs (especially the hind ones). The best characters for recognizing H. gracilis are the red patch along the side of the thorax above the legs, reaching from the eyes to the abdomen, and the absence of a well defined line of scales through the forewing cell (in the specimen pictured here, there is an obvious forewing cell bisection which immediately confirms that this is H. thysbe, not H. gracilis).

… Ryan St Laurent, 1 August, 2017 - 1:09pm

Humminbird Clearwing…

See reference here.

… Ross Hill, 1 August, 2017 - 10:51am

Hemaris gracilis

based on the rusty brown legs. Hummingbird clearwing has white legs, Snowberry's are black.

… Larry de March, 1 August, 2017 - 11:07am

Thanks Larry.

… Don Magnusson, 1 August, 2017 - 11:11am

Thank you Ross.

… Don Magnusson, 1 August, 2017 - 11:03am