Hummingbird moths are insects often mistaken for birds due to their striking similarities in appearance and behavior. These creatures belong to the Sphingidae family, also known as sphinx moths or hawk moths. Unlike most moths, they are primarily active during the day, contributing to their bird-like perception. This is an example of convergent evolution, where unrelated species develop similar traits.
Recognizing a Hummingbird Moth
Despite their bird-like appearance, several distinct features help identify a hummingbird moth. These moths have a robust, furry body, often with colors ranging from olive green and reddish-brown to yellow and black. Their wings often have transparent patches, making them “clearwings.” This transparency occurs because they lose many of the tiny scales that normally cover moth wings.
Hummingbird moths possess a long proboscis, a straw-like mouthpart coiled under their chin when not in use. This proboscis can extend significantly, sometimes nearly twice their body length, allowing them to access nectar deep within tubular flowers. When feeding, they hover in front of blossoms, rapidly beating their wings. This rapid wing movement creates an audible humming sound, another reason for their common name.
Distinguishing them from actual hummingbirds involves observing specific insect characteristics. Hummingbird moths have two prominent antennae, which hummingbirds lack. While hummingbirds have two wings, these moths possess four, though the hindwings can be less noticeable. Hummingbird moths also have six legs, which may dangle visibly during flight, unlike a bird’s tiny, tucked-away legs. They are generally smaller, with a body length of about 1.5 to 2 inches compared to a hummingbird’s 3 to 4 inches.
The Hummingbird Moth Life Cycle
The hummingbird moth life cycle follows four stages of metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Females lay tiny, spherical, pale green eggs, often singly on the underside of host plant leaves. These eggs typically hatch within 6 to 8 days, depending on environmental temperatures.
Upon hatching, larvae emerge as caterpillars, often called hornworms due to a distinctive horn-like spike at their rear. These caterpillars are commonly green, providing camouflage among foliage, or sometimes yellowish-green. They feed on the leaves of host plants, such as honeysuckle, hawthorn, dogbane, and members of the rose family like cherries and plums.
Once fully grown, typically within a few weeks, caterpillars descend to the ground to pupate. They often spin a loose cocoon within leaf litter or just below the soil surface. This pupal stage can last several weeks, with the moth emerging as an adult. In warmer climates, multiple generations can occur yearly, while in colder regions, the pupa may overwinter, emerging as an adult the following spring.
Where and How Hummingbird Moths Live
Hummingbird moths are widely distributed across temperate regions of Eurasia and North America. They thrive in diverse habitats, commonly found in gardens, meadows, open woodlands, and forest edges where flowering plants are abundant. They are important pollinators.
These moths are primarily diurnal, active during daylight hours, but can also be seen at dusk or dawn. They are attracted to nectar-rich flowers, especially those with long, tubular shapes, as their elongated proboscis is well-suited for reaching the nectar. Common floral preferences include bee balm, phlox, honeysuckle, verbena, and red valerian.
Hummingbird moths are agile fliers, capable of hovering, flying backward, and changing direction swiftly while feeding. This flight precision allows them to efficiently extract nectar from various blossoms, contributing to plant pollination. Their activity patterns and feeding habits make them important pollinators, especially for flowers blooming during the day or later into the evening when other pollinators might be less active.