Can anybody tell me what insect this is, hovering over my flowers right this second? A black and yellow stripey thing should be a bumble bee, but this looks more like a moth with his antennae. Any ideas?
Bugs And Stuff
Can anybody tell me what insect this is, hovering over my flowers right this second? A black and yellow stripey thing should be a bumble bee, but this looks more like a moth with his antennae. Any ideas?
I Don't Get It 
That is a sphinx moth or a clearwing moth commonly called a hummingbird moth because it looks a lot like a baby hummingbird. I did a post with pictures of this last summer, if you want to have a look here is the link:
http://rlogan1155.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/critters-who-share-our-world/
Ruth from At Home on the Road
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Thank you! I checked out your post. At first, I thought it WAS a hummingbird because of its wings, so that makes a lot of sense.
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No idea about the bug, but the plant, lantana, is considered a raging pest in Queensland. In fact, it is one of the weeds on our Weed of National Significance list and covers around four million hectares. It was introduced to Australia from the USA in the 1840s to make gardens pretty but has run amok. It’s a disaster for Australia! I coudln’t believe my eyes when I saw lantana seedlings for sale when I was in Utah!!!!! 🙂
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OMG, I had never heard that before. It pretty much stays contained in our little flowerbeds in the front yard. Weren’t rabbits introduced into Australia and then run amok as well? There’s something in the air there that makes things stronger…
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Oh god, rabbits, cane toads, brambles, foxes, all sorts of things. I read a very dry book called Feral Future by a guy called Tim Lowe that outlines a lot of the introduced species and how they are detrimental to the Aussie environment.
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Always wanted to know the name of this insect – as children we always referred to it as the humming bee – but deep down we knew that was wrong..! x
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makes sense. it’s just not as cute as a bumble bee.
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nice pic of the hummingbird moth !
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Thanks! I’m glad I didn’t kill it. 🙂
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