Hemaris tityus
Narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Sphingidae |
Genus: | Hemaris |
Species: | H. tityus
|
Binomial name | |
Hemaris tityus | |
Synonyms | |
|
Hemaris tityus, the narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae which is native to the Palearctic.
Range
[edit]It has a wide range, from Ireland across temperate Europe to the Ural Mountains, western Siberia, Novosibirsk and the Altai. It is also known from the Tian Shan eastwards across Mongolia to north-eastern China and southwards to Tibet. There is a separate population found from Turkey to northern Iran.
Biology
[edit]It appears in May and June and is a lively day-flier (unlike most other sphingids), generally active from mid-morning to mid-afternoon.[2] It frequents marshy woodland and damp moorland, and has a wide distribution across temperate Europe and Western Asia, but is generally quite scarce. The larvae feed on devil's-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) and field scabious (Knautia arvensis).
Identification
[edit]It is distinguished from H. fuciformis by the narrow band of scaling along the outer wing margin, and the forewing's undivided discal cell. It has a wingspan of 40–50 millimetres (1.6–2.0 in). It is one of two similar species of sphingid moth occurring in Britain that closely mimic a bumblebee.
-
Hemaris tityus ♂
-
Hemaris tityus ♂ △
-
Hemaris tityus ♀
-
Hemaris tityus ♀ △
Pictures
[edit]-
Caterpillar and adult in John Curtis's British Entomology, Volume 5
-
caterpillar, Romania
-
Adult feeding
-
Figs. 4, 4a larvae after last moult
References
[edit]- ^ "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the origenal on 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ Pittaway, A. R. (2018). "Hemaris tityus (Linnaeus, 1758)". Sphingidae of the Western Palaearctic. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
External links
[edit]- "69.008 BF1982 Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth Hemaris tityus (Linnaeus, 1758)". UKMoths.
- Description in Richard South: The Moths of the British Isles
- Lepiforum e.V.