Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

15 June 2005  (date of moth capture)  (top, bottom left and right)
All photos are of the same specimen.

Hemaris thysbe, also known as the Hummingbird Clearwing, is one of three species of Hemaris recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001).  A day-flier, it seldom visits lights at night; lawn-mowing was interrupted for the capture of this specimen as it nectared at flowers in the afternoon.

The wings of Hemaris thysbe are mainly transparent, lacking scales in the median area.  The base and terminal areas are scaled and dark wine-brown in color.  On the forewing, the inner edge of the brown band along the outer margin is somewhat scalloped.  The dorsal thorax is olive-colored, but white in the ventral view.  The abdomen is mainly dark wine-brown, with creamy yellow tufts or bands on each side near the end.  Covell gives a wingspan from 4.0 to 5.5 cm for this species.

This species is closely similar to Hemaris gracilis (not yet recorded at my location), but Covell notes that the latter has a reddish brown line on the ventral surface of the thorax below each wing base, which is absent in Hemaris thysbe.

According to Handfield (1999), the larva of Hemaris thysbe has been reported to feed on viburnum, hawthorn, honeysuckle, cherry/plum and snowberry.  He indicates two generations per year for my general area, with adult flight seasons from early May to mid-July and from mid-July nearly to mid-September.

My only record to date for Hemaris thysbe is in the table below: