Date Posted:06:01:25 05/06/06 Sat Author:Beverly Subject: Hummingbird Clearwing, Monarch and Swallowtails
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We often think of moths as being strictly nocturnal creatures, but many moths fly during the daylight hours.
Seen here on the New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) that grows in my horses' undergrazed paddock, is the Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe). This moth feeds on nectar, and hovers while feeding, much like a hummingbird. A member of the Sphinx moth family, this individual mimics the ruby throat hummingbird's green back.
Also feeding on the ironwood blossoms this afternoon were not fewer than a half dozen tiger swallowtails, a black swallowtail, and a monarch.
The Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) is very similar, in appearance, to the pipevine swallowtail and the spicebush swallowtail, but shows more white spots on the ventral side of the upper wings.
The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) looks much like a Viceroy, but the Monarch has a 'checkerboard' white spotted wing edge, whilst the Viceroy has a single line of white spots on its wing edges. Also, the Viceroy has a black streak across its lower wings, missing in the Monarch. Once, scientist believed that the viceroy mimiced the monarch's color and pattern, for protection from predators (the monarch is evidently a foul tasting butterfly, from all the milkweed it consumes as a catepillar); it is now believed that the viceroy is also unpleasant to a bird's palate, and that the two species benefit mutually from the 'taste test' crowd. Adult monarchs migrate in large groups, and they congregate in central Mexico and parts of the California coast during their winters.
