Strange beast sighting

"Gene Cottrell" wrote in message
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On May 29, 7:19 am, Scott Seidman wrote:
Trodding back to my car from a day on the water, I was passing through a
phlox patch, and saw what I thought was a large honeybee gathering
nectar.
This might seem quite stupid, but I'm pretty sure it was not a honeybee.
It seemed to be about twice the size of a honeybee. The wing beats were
extremely fast, and it darted about more like what I think of in a
hummingbird-- very good hover, rapid darting pattern with extremely
sudden
stops. There were some prominent yellow and black stripes on the back,
where an abdomen would want to be--maybe two yellow and one black.

I didn't get a close enough look to categorically say there was no beak,
so
I can't be sure, but I thought I saw a rather prominent probiscus for
nectar collection-- maybe some sort of odd moth??

I was with somebody else, and neither of us would identify this as a
bee.
Any ideas? I'm in Western NY, if that helps.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Sounds like a Bumble Bee. We have them here in central Texas.


Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata)
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/nat...wildlife.shtml

No entomologist or ornithologist here, but from what little I've seen of
sphinx moths myself and the little bit I've read, it appears they are more
often confused with hummingbirds than honeybees. As Scott stated, what he
saw was about twice the size of a honeybee. Do sphinx moths come in that
size range? Lots of hymenopterids do. Bumble bees around here show some
variation in size......various species?.....I dunno.....but all those I've
seen are considerably more than twice the size of a honeybee.

The prominent proboscis makes me think immediately of moths......but without
even resorting to Google I'd bet a shiny new nickel that lots of bees and
their allies do too.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Gene Cottrell" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
On May 29, 7:19 am, Scott Seidman wrote:
Trodding back to my car from a day on the water, I was passing through
a
phlox patch, and saw what I thought was a large honeybee gathering
nectar.
This might seem quite stupid, but I'm pretty sure it was not a
honeybee.
It seemed to be about twice the size of a honeybee. The wing beats
were
extremely fast, and it darted about more like what I think of in a
hummingbird-- very good hover, rapid darting pattern with extremely
sudden
stops. There were some prominent yellow and black stripes on the back,
where an abdomen would want to be--maybe two yellow and one black.

I didn't get a close enough look to categorically say there was no
beak, so
I can't be sure, but I thought I saw a rather prominent probiscus for
nectar collection-- maybe some sort of odd moth??

I was with somebody else, and neither of us would identify this as a
bee.
Any ideas? I'm in Western NY, if that helps.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Sounds like a Bumble Bee. We have them here in central Texas.


Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata)
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/nat...wildlife.shtml

No entomologist or ornithologist here, but from what little I've seen of
sphinx moths myself and the little bit I've read, it appears they are more
often confused with hummingbirds than honeybees. As Scott stated, what he
saw was about twice the size of a honeybee. Do sphinx moths come in that
size range? Lots of hymenopterids do. Bumble bees around here show some
variation in size......various species?.....I dunno.....but all those I've
seen are considerably more than twice the size of a honeybee.

The prominent proboscis makes me think immediately of moths......but
without even resorting to Google I'd bet a shiny new nickel that lots of
bees and their allies do too.

Wolfgang



Yes, the sphinx moth is far larger than a bumble bee and is about the same
size as a humming bird, at least the ruby throated hummingbird, which is the
only humming bird native to New York. I've seen may sphinx moths and they
would easily be mistaken for a humming bird except for the coloration.

Gene