My moth's identity has been confirmed by an expert!
It has been confirmed by Bill Oehlke that the insect in this photo I took truly is Hemaris thysbe, which is a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. That's just what I thought it was! Now an expert has verified it. The gender has yet to be determined, but I have a hunch that it's a male. How would I know though?
Bill Oehlke designed and maintains a vast website about moths. It contains volumes of information about many different kinds of moths. With his website, Bill has compiled and organized a wealth of fascinating facts about moths and the photos of moths he has there will amaze you! Many of the moths are incredibly beautiful!
Moth Identity Confirmed and Documented
(Hummingbird Clearwing Moth)
and organized a ton of fascinating facts about moths and the photos he has there will amaze you! Not only do many of the moths look amazing, but some of the caterpillars are just as incredible. I didn't realize just what amazing creatures moths are until I browsed through his website.
I discovered Bill's website while trying to figure out what kind of insect it was that I had captured in my photo. I contacted Bill to share my photo with him and thank him for providing such an informative website. I received a friendly reply congratulating me on the photo. He regretted that he couldn't use the photo on his website because he couldn't confirm the indentity. He informed me that it might be Hemaris thysbe, but that he suspected it was Hemaris gracilis. He explained that both were very similar. I have several other photos that I took the same day of the same moth and wondered if they would help him determine which moth it was, so I sent them to him.
The other photos aren't as nice, but he was able to use them to make a positive identification and used my photos to create a great presentation for his website. Bill also documents when and where moths are sited, and has now honored me by including my photos of Hemaris thysbe in the article to officially docmument my sighting! I'm so proud of it! He even quoted me in the article! Below are links to the article he wrote and links to several other sections of his website! Be sure to check out some of the incredible photos on his website! You may be tempted to leave your porch light on at night to see what moths you can attract!
(Hummingbird Clearwing Moth)
World's Largest Saturniidae Site!
Bill Oehlke's Website
This sections focuses on moths on the side of the world I'm most familiar with.
This is his home page. It leads to information and photos about moths all over the world.
This is the article featuring my photos!
Sections of his website are arranged geographically.
Here are moths I can look for in my neck of the woods.
This webpage is dedicated to
Bill Oehlke
This is a special thank you to Bill Oehlke for finding such a great way to use my photos. You make me proud, Bill!
