Here is a strange thing...comes and visits the petunias on a regular basis each evening. It has an antenna that it inserts into the flower and then curls to feed. Anyone out there know what it is? Thanks, Mari
What is it?
Looks like a White Lined Sphinx
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/ia/1066.htm
Is the color showing true on the petunias? They are amazing. What kind are they?
Nice Sphinx too, almost forgot about it.
Yep, looks exact! Thanks so much for the info. panamoncreel. I've been curious for some time. As for the petunias paintedlady I'm sorry to say that they are just a plain old wave petunia...the shadows were near falling last evening when I took this picture. The color is way off their true purple.
opps, have to edit myself, that plain old petunia does not have any "wave" in it...don't know that I have even seen wave in that color.
This message was edited Thursday, Aug 28th 7:59 AM
We have hummingbird moths here that appear to be the same type, thanks for the id. I need to be out there with my camera in the evenings, maybe I could get a picture.
Another common name for the sphynx moth is hummingbird moth. After watching it, I'm sure you understand why. Until I saw the moth up really close, I was fooled into thinking I had *finally* attracted a hummer to my garden.
You guys are right, the first several times I saw one of these I was looking for a beak..but they move so fast! It took sometime for me to figure that it definately was not a humming bird. I felt pretty lucky to get this shot on my third try.