Rocky Mountain clearwing
Hemaris thetis
The Rocky Mountain clearwing is a moth that lives high up in the mountains of western North America. It likes meadows next to little streams. There it visits flowers such as lupines to drink their sweet nectar.
Lives in
Western North America, from British Columbia to California, in mountain meadows
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting, so you can simply watch it visit the flowers.
What does it eat?
The grown-ups drink nectar from flowers like bearberry and lupines. The caterpillars eat the leaves of snowberry bushes.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
Rocky Mountain clearwing about 45 km/h (28 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It belongs to the hawk moth family.
2
The grown-up moths fly from May to August.
3
There is probably only one new generation of moths each year.
4
It is also called the California clearwing.
you asked
Most asked questions about Rocky Mountain clearwing
?What does the Rocky Mountain clearwing eat?
The moths drink nectar from flowers such as lupines. Their caterpillars eat snowberry leaves.
?Where does the Rocky Mountain clearwing live?
In the mountains of western North America, in meadows and along streams.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hemaris thetis
- Named by
- Boisduval, 1855
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- California clearwing
Where the facts come from
- Hemaris thetis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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