Hummingbird clearwing moth
Hemaris thysbe
Moth
The hummingbird clearwing is a day-flying sphinx moth whose adults hover at flowers and feed through a long proboscis, mimicking a hummingbird; the wings carry clear, scale-free patches. Females lay eggs on woody hosts in the honeysuckle, viburnum, hawthorn, and cherry/plum groups, and the green larvae feed on the foliage before pupating in a cocoon at the soil surface. Gardeners who grow both larval host shrubs and deep tubular nectar flowers can support the moth's full life cycle.
Plants in the catalog
Larval host plants · 7
BAMONA lists cherries and plums (Prunus) as Hemaris thysbe larval hosts; American plum is Prunus americana.
Viburnum is a documented Hemaris thysbe larval host genus (BAMONA / Wikipedia name V. opulus); arrowwood is a native Viburnum congener.
BAMONA lists cherries and plums (Prunus) as Hemaris thysbe larval hosts; beach plum is Prunus maritima.
BAMONA lists cherries and plums (Prunus) as Hemaris thysbe larval hosts; black cherry is Prunus serotina.
Viburnum is a documented Hemaris thysbe larval host genus (BAMONA / Wikipedia name V. opulus); blackhaw is a native Viburnum congener.
BAMONA lists cherries and plums (Prunus) as Hemaris thysbe larval hosts; chokecherry is Prunus virginiana.
BAMONA lists hawthorns (Crataegus) among Hemaris thysbe larval hosts; green hawthorn is a Crataegus species.
Nectar plants · 5
UW-Madison Horticulture names Verbena bonariensis as a favored adult Hemaris thysbe nectar plant; blue vervain (Verbena hastata) is a congener, inferred not species-cited.
The clove fragrance and tubular flower base suit long-tongued day-flying moths, in keeping with the genus's moth-and-butterfly pollination.
Adults favor pink/purple deep-tubular flowers; garden phlox fits this profile but is not species-specifically cited for H. thysbe.
UW-Madison Horticulture lists bee balm (Monarda) among adult Hemaris thysbe nectar flowers.
UW-Madison Horticulture lists bee balm (Monarda) as an adult Hemaris thysbe nectar source; wild bergamot is Monarda fistulosa.
Range
Widespread across North America from Alaska and the Canadian prairie provinces east to Newfoundland and south to Florida and Texas, most abundant in the eastern United States and southern Ontario.