White-Lined Sphinx - hyles lineata |
FTLComm - Regina - Friday, August 24, 2001 image by Stu Innes |
This morning Stu Innes found this fellow sitting on his gate to his yard in Regina.
It was careful put in a jar lid for this picture. Lepidoptera is the name for the group of insects we all know as butterflies and moths. These marvellous creatures have transparent wings just like every other insect but nature has given them little scales that are coloured and these scales are the dust that comes off on your fingers if you catch one in your hand. The difference between butterflies and moths is the size of the body which in the butterfly is small whereas the moth has an ample almost chubby body. This inch and a half long example is a White-Lined Sphinx moth and Regina would be the Northern edge of its habitat. It has the ability to hover much like a hummingbird and shares a similar diet of flower nectar. Below are some excellent sites of pictures of this interesting bug and its equally interesting caterpillar form. |
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