Hummingbird Clearwing Moth
| Is it a bird, a bee or super shrimp?
Some people think these moths look like baby hummingbirds, others believe they’ve spotted a mutant bee and some just don’t know what to think the first time they see one. |
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Hemaris thysbe
It’s easy to see how they picked up the hummingbird moniker. Darting about and hovering while feeding they do look like a hummer at first glance. Well at least for most people, my wife came yelling for me to see the mutant bumblebee the first time she saw one.
Eggs are deposited on the undersides of leaves. Viburnum, hawthorn and wild cherry are plentiful around my house and are probably the main food source for the caterpillars here. The green caterpillars (hornworms) have horns on their rear ends – someday I’ll get a photo. The larvae pupate under leaf litter in cocoons. Hummingbird moths have a real liking for garden phlox and I make sure my gardens have plenty of it to attract them.
Getting a sharp photo of these moths is hard at best. They’re not shy but they dart about so quickly there’s no time to focus the camera. Before you can press the shutter button they’ve moved on to the next flower. Out of hundreds of attempts these are the best I could manage. I’m going to have to set up the tripod and pre-focus on a flower and hope the little bugger stops there.
Lobster Bee is my pet name for these moths. I didn’t come up with the name – my wife did after getting a closer look at one.
I won’t argue with her but I think they look more like flying shrimp.
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August 11th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Wow, you don’t have to apologize for these shots. They’re great. I think you and your wife are both right, so why not split the difference and call them Scampi bees? They certainly sound like they scamper…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway_lobster
August 11th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I vote with your wife. I call them flying crayfish. We have them in South Africa too.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Imagine that landing in your hair(-: Ewww(-:
I would rather have a hummingbird land in my hair(-:
August 11th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Ha! Flying shrimp indeed! Never thought of taht, and now I’l think of this forever–once I get a cherry tree.
August 12th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Great photos! I think you’re right about the shrimp name. fit them.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Excellent shots !
I never did manage to get a clear shot of the one I saw feeding on the lilac back in June. I had to refocus constantly. They sure a quick ! As I moved in closer, it flew off.
Now that the phlox is out, I’m hoping to catch a glimpse of it again. What a beauty ! (So is your phlox , btw).
August 12th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Thanks for showing this and naming it–I just saw it in another blog today and didn’t know what it was. Mmmmm, furry shrimp! Wait, no, that doesn’t sound good…
August 12th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Great shots of a beautiful insect. If you are into scientific names, the “thysbe” part comes from the Greek tragedy Pyramis and Thisbe because of the moth’s blood red color.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
They are difficult to get shots of, they whiz about so quickly from flower to flower. Well done!
August 12th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I think the photos are fantastic. I love those moths. We see them, or a similar species, here every once in awhile. I might have trouble getting the flying shrimp image out of my head now, though.
August 25th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
We saw one in our front yard in South Carolina. We couldn’t get any good pictures of it because it moved to the next flower really fast. My brother thought it was a mutant bee and didn’t want to go outside because he thought he would get stung. I, on the other hand, wanted to get a closer look. I totally thought it was a flying mutant lobster hummingbird thing! I said it was a hummingbird. What else could it be?
September 16th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I saw one for the first time yesterday on my butterfly bush, was quite shocked and immediately thought, “That’s a flying shrimp!!” That’s actually how I found this website, I binged “insect that looks like a flying shrimp” I did however, get some great shots!!
June 1st, 2010 at 10:21 pm
My parents and I found one or two of these things buzzing around the lilac bush in our back yard. My mom took a couple of really cool shots. The craziest thing about these creatures that are more like a bumblebee-hummingbird is that the one(s) we saw had alternating black and yellow stripes on the top of its tail, just like some freaky bumblebee! It actually does kind of look like it could be a shrimp, lobster, or other bug of some sort, though its also hard to believe its a moth.
June 9th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
I’m in north central British Columbia an saw my first Hummingbird Clearwing Moth in my Lilac Bush, there was about a dozen of them. At first I thought they were baby Hummers. Gosh they are beautiful and they stayed all day.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Oh, I’m so glad to finally find out what these cute wee critters are! I also thought it was a baby Hummingbird, and was really suprised to find out it’s a moth.
Great photo’s, by the way. I’ve tried relentlessly to get a picture of them as well, but like you say, they dart around too fast for my antiquated digital camera and have evaded me so far!
They’ve actually let me pet them, though. They aren’t too afraid of us.
And like you, I’ve planted plenty of phlox. They also really like Sweet William, (Dianthus barbatus).
Great post, and thanks for the info!
July 2nd, 2010 at 4:01 pm
I just had one of these on our purple verbena. I’ve never seen it before, and I had to do a search for it. I searched for a flying insect that looked like a shrimp, and there was your site. Thanks so much for these great pics!!!
July 30th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
This helped so much. Me and my brother looked outside and saw what we called a lobster bee. so we typed it into google and found this, so thank you
July 31st, 2010 at 11:46 pm
I saw this fabulous creature for the first time in my life in central NJ. WOW. I am enchanted.
August 8th, 2010 at 3:55 am
I found one of these today at the park. It is still in the caterpillar stage so I thought he was cute : ) I took it home and decided to research what type it was so I could give the soon-to-be-a-butterfly the proper nutrition. Unfortunately, my “Squeegee” (That’s what I call him) will not grow up to be the beautiful butterfly I had hoped : \ Bummer. (PS: Those pictures are amazing! And so clear! And I think they look like both a lobster and shrimp!
Gross!)
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 am
This past July in NE PA, I saw my first one. I have a lot of hummingbirds, so this is what immediately came to mind, but it moved much more slowly and and as I continued to observed it, I could see the wings were not batting like a hummie’s would, nor was it making that zooming sound as it darted. I loved that it was furry…a sort of tip off that it might be a moth, along with the oversized antennae. The color of this particular little guy was reddish-orange with some yellow (on the body). The shape in profile (at eye level) does look a little like a shrimp, but I’d never mistake this delightful insect, at least not the one I saw, for a hornet. Maybe they differ from region to region?
August 28th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Do these things burrow into sand? Saw something like a brown hummingbird hover, then dart into a 3/4″ round hole beside a driveway..
BUT, also had two of these (i guess) sipping from my purple shooting star in Brandon, FL just after dawn today.
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Wow. Thanks for this wonderful page. We saw this neat insect at Perot State Park in WI this summer. As we tried to capture a photo of it, it flew right towards my son and myself, and I exclaimed, “Well, hello, Lobster Bee!” I knew I didn’t know the name of it, but it was fun seeing how other people came up with the same nickname. I was able to share this site with my son as he has now shared his experience with his school Guidance class and made a Technology class project with it. Now he has an expert on his side.
July 26th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
I laughed when I saw your wife’s description of the bee…the mutant bee..that’s what I thought when I first saw it. Great pics! The ones in my garden seem to really like butterfly bushes…although, my phlox is just beginning to bloom. Great post!
July 27th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
I saw one of these on my flowers, I tried to take a picture but it moved s quickly that I could not take a picture. I could have sworn it was a Hummingbird with a shrimps body but i was not sure. I was very surprised to see the pictures! But i still do not understand what the name of this is called. Anybody know?
August 1st, 2011 at 8:53 am
we saw one of these for the first time Sunday. We also thought it was a baby hummer. The Hummingbird Clearwing Moth is very cool. We get so many different moths here in our RV park in GA. I am honored to add this little beauty to my list.
Thanks for the pics it really help to Identify the little guy/girl.
August 7th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Love your pictures. I to swore it was a baby humming bird. I got out my camera and away it went. I came in turned on my computer and typed in baby humming birds and saw your picture. Click on it and I was soooo surprised to see that it was a moth. I went back out after reading all of your comments and I took 50 pictures and 19 turned out great. Thank you so much for setting the baby humming bird straight. Mosinee, Wisconsin 8-7-11
August 10th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I saw one of these yesterday and thought it was a baby hummingbird. We have hummingbirds and I knew it wasn’t a bee. It’s nice to know what it was that I saw that is pretty cool.
August 14th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Thanks for the great photos! This is the second year we have noticed these little guys and I’m glad to know what they are. We live in Maine, so naturally my husband and I thought it looked like a lobster, especially with that tail. We called it the hummingbird lobster bee. It likes the phlox and the bee balm, too. Thanks again.
September 25th, 2011 at 11:41 am
i found this insect in my garden today and i haven’t seen such a kind of it before..It’s not easy to capture it’s photo…it will not stay anywhere so long…it is so fast moving like a bee..and this site helped me to know it’s name..it looks like a flying prawn…
October 19th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Thanks for the information. I put in a hummingbird / butterfly garden with bee balm and phlox this past summer (just north of Baltimore) and saw my first hummingbird moth. Nature is unbelievable!! I can’t wait for them to return next year.