Last night I was up late (on the computer...on DG, of course!!) and heard something hit my glass door. When I turned on the outside light, there was a little thing buzzing over the verbenas. I took a pic, and thought at first it was a hummer...but then I blew it up and it's a moth sucking nectar from the verbena! I somehow thought they were more "buggy" and didn't live off of nectar!! Here's the shot..the only one I got before he flew away.
It's probably a hummingbird moth, or some kind of sphinx moth. If you do a google search on those, you'll see lots of pix. One caution, the tomato hornworm is the caterpillar stage of a sphinx moth. They are a beautiful moth though.
That is a cool shot, Connie! I agree that it looks like a Sphinx moth, and yes, the caterpillar stage of the moth gets HUGE and is a voracious eater, but I don't know if verbena is a host to the cat. I do know that Oenothera is a host. Is there any Oenothera--primrose--growing in your yard?
Edited for spelling...ugh..gotta remember to check that before I post...
This message was edited Jun 22, 2006 9:19 AM
No...and I haven't seen any cats here. I'm going to look up the Sphinx moth...never heard of it! Thanks!!
tomato plants are also host to the hornworm....the larval stage of a sphinx moth. They'll eat your tomato plant to the ground overnight.
I keep things around just for some of my moths. I put a slew of IO moths in my nursery tank today. They usually eat my crape myrtles but, it doesn't hurt the trees and I just let them go at it. Also have raised many varieties of Sphinx moths, the one in your photo is the humming bird moth which is a type of sphinx moth, you even see tem during the day a lot. The Sphinx moths actually do a lot of pollinating, more than most people realize. I think they're a beautiful and useful moth.
This is a picture of one I hatched out and released.
yes they are very good and pollinating the Brugmansia
Yes...I too looked up the Hummingbird moth. I even submitted the pic to a "bug site" and will check later to see if my little bug made the list! :)
What a cool shot! Really neat to see!
Spectacular shot! Well done!
Thank you!...
