green eggs and…

Female Snowberry Clearwing moth, coming in for a landing on coral honeysuckle. She did not nectar on any of the flowers.

Such concentration! Maybe, who really knows. She did lay an egg here, though…

Another year, another scary disaster. The most recent non-pandemic driven excitement has been the cheerful presence of Snowberry Clearwing, Hemaris diffinis, a day-flying hummingbird moth that more closely resembles an elongated bumble bee. This female spent most of an afternoon dipping in and out of the tangle of coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, and American beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, finding suitable places to deposit her eggs. Larval host plants for the Snowberry Clearwing include other members of Lonicera (honeysuckle), Diervilla (bush honeysuckle), Symphoricarpos (snowberry,) and Apocynum (dogbane.)

Freshly deposited egg on underside of coral honeysuckle leaf. The future caterpillars will likely  feed on this plant, then eventually fall to the ground, constructing cocoons in leaf litter to overwinter. Another reminder to KEEP THE LEAF LITTER if you want to see these beauties in the spring.

Egg deposition in action.

Should be interesting in the next few weeks – a pair of cardinals is also constructing a nest here. Not sure how the timing will play out between the maturation of moth eggs and hatching of chicks, but Ms. Snowberry Clearwing might’ve just gifted some juicy caterpillars to hungry baby birds. 

sources: (1), (2)